How does open source software work (as a business)? With Adam Wathan (TailwindCSS)
Adam Wathan, creator of TailwindCSS helps me unpack what it means to create, contribute, and build with open source software.
“Many people make open-source software because programming is like a creative thing, just like making music or something for most programmers who do in their spare time, not because they have some idealistic mission or something, it's just, I just want to put something out there, and I want people to see it, and I want to feel good about people liking it” - Adam Wathan
Today Adam Wathan joins me to unpack the concept of open source software as a thing on the internet. What it means to publish open source, contribute to OSS projects, and what it looks like to manage a massively popular and fast-growing project such as TailwindCSS.
In this conversation:
Adam Wathan:
Adam's company, Tailwind CSS
Brian Casel:
Brian’s company, ZipMessage
Brian on Twitter: @casjam
Thanks to ZipMessage
ZipMessage (today’s sponsor) is the video messaging tool that replaces live calls with asynchronous conversations. Use it for free or tune into the episode for an exclusive coupon for Open Threads listeners.
Quotes:
“Many people make open-source software because programming is like a creative thing, just like making music or something for most programmers who do in their spare time, not because they have some idealistic mission or something, it's just, I just want to put something out there, and I want people to see it, and I want to feel good about people liking it.” - Adam Wathan
“But a lot of the time fixing something is a one-line fix, and you just kind of have to find where it is.” - Adam Wathan
“The more popular a tool is, the more inexperienced people start using it. So the quality of issues and the quality of requests, actually like goes down as a tool gets more popular.” - Adam Wathan
Creators and Guests
