Lee Gomes' job at Forbes seems to be digging around in the dark corners of Silicon Valley for oddball companies and entrepreneurs that aren't getting shouts elsewhere. Today he delivers an interesting piece on software writers who produce freeware and why they deliver software that could be worth millions for free.
[David] Bryant, 49, and [Josh] Coalson, 39, are both experienced computer programmers living in Silicon Valley. They pay the rent by laboring during the day in the tech world's digital salt mines. Their nights and weekends are also spent hunched over computer keyboards but working on software they developed themselves and give away for free.
They programmed Flac, a lossless compression program used by music fans to create clear-sounding digital music, which is widely used in the music industry.
Their answer is that they do it for love, and art, two things not normally associated with software coding.
I'm not sure exactly what it is that makes it pleasurable, but there is certainly something fun about building a program from scratch that does something useful," says Bryant. "It feels like a form of artistic expression." Coalson says, "I've gotten to play with a lot of great music equipment, and I've met a lot of interesting people."
The result is an off-beat story about interesting people doing important work. I love stories that show there is no one right way to live your life. As we get ready for Thanksgiving it's important to give thanks for an economy that both produces and supports people's infinitely varied creative urges, even in this case when that support is non-traditional.
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