David Heinemeier Hansson (DHH)

As soon as it was released, there were a million people who had all sorts of opinions about where I ought to take it.

And not just opinions, but actually demands.

Unless you implement an Oracle database adapter, this is always going to be a toy.

It was actually more or less that exact demand that prompted me to have a slide at one of the early Rails conferences that just said, fuck you.

Yeah, I saw that.

I'm not going to do what you tell me to.

I'm here as a bringer of gift.

I am sharing...

code that i wrote on my own time on my own volition and you don't have to say thank you i mean be nice if you did you can take the code and do whatever you want with it you can contribute back if you want but you can't tell me what to do or where to go or how to act

I'm not a vendor.

This is a fundamental misconception that users of open source occasionally step into because they're used to buying software from companies who really care about their business.

I care about people using my software.

I think it's great.

But we don't have a transactional relationship.

I don't get something back when you tell me what to do, except grief.

And I don't want it, so you can keep it.

So my open source philosophy from the start has been, I got to do this primarily for me.

I love when other people find use in my open source.

It's not my primary motivation.

I'm not primarily doing it for other people.