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Re:Open source as a civic duty by jiggy2011 on Saturday August 17, 2013 @02:35PM (#6229883)
In that case project selection is important. Unpaid work towards a project who's main effect will be to reduce licensing costs for fortune 500 companies is very different to working on something to (say) improve educational outcomes for low income children.
Re:Open source as a civic duty by cpursley on Saturday August 17, 2013 @05:07PM (#6230379)
This is a very narrow perspective.

Hacking on open source does increase the education improvement for low income children. Example: Poor kids in Africa now have android phones and have access to open source education materials made possible via open source web technologies.

Re:Open source as a civic duty by jiggy2011 on Saturday August 17, 2013 @06:08PM (#6230533)
Android is developed mainly by paid engineers, not people giving their time as "civic duty".
Re:Open source as a civic duty by cpursley on Saturday August 17, 2013 @09:43PM (#6231231)
What is Android based on? Linux.
Re:Open source as a civic duty by pmh on Saturday August 17, 2013 @10:59PM (#6231440)
Linux kernel development is also primarily[1] done by paid engineers

[1] http://www.linuxfoundation.org/news-media/announcements/2012...

Re:Open source as a civic duty by pjmlp on Sunday August 18, 2013 @04:22AM (#6232090)
Linux wouldn't be where it is today without the work of full time engineers paid to work on it.