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Corporate Takeovers Lead to Burnouts
When Hector Martin resigned from Asahi Linux he said he had suffered burnout - a subject explored last week in relation to Free software projects. Quoting the original: "Burnout is an exhaustion of physical and mental energy, typically associated with work. Burnout leaves us feeling drained, that we have no fuel left in the tank, that we are running on fumes. When we are burnt out, it is hard to motivate ourselves, to control our emotions, or to think positively about our work."
It seems to have happened to Jonathan Riddell, who months ago called it quits. In his own blog he said: "Then I started to get sad, being cut off from my life for the last 25 years was too much for me. All things come to an end and I’ve seen plenty people had to leave KDE because the money ran out or maybe they had a disagreement with someone in the project, but never a profiteering control struggle like this. I struggled to get out of bed on some days."
So basically a large corporation, Valve (via TechPaladin), was sort of taking control of projects or teams he had long participated in. It was using its financial muscle (developed via DRM, which is what Steam basically is), just like GAFAM do.
Free software stands to suffer if the rich and powerful take charge. Community-led, grassroots efforts are therefore imperative for the wellbeing and ongoing success of people, or the welfare of the systems those people develop.
It's hard to tell what led Hector Martin to a fight with the leadership of Linux (he was fuming and acting stridently for years already); he won't be the last because large corporations and plutocrats will not resist the temptation to take over GNU/Linux as it grows and matures. █