Ron Bongo on the motivation of people to participate in the Open Source movement:

One of the most unprecedented characteristics of open source projects is the willingness of people to contribute whatever they can for features, bug fixes, and to participate in discussions with the community involved in this particular project. But what motivates these people to participate and contribute their skills and talents to develop or improve a particular open source application.

The following are some of the reasons why developers are motivated to join a particular open source project:

* They’re doing it just for fun -- It’s surprising to know that many skilled developers sometimes get bored at what they do during their day jobs. To enliven their humdrum existence, they would often participate in something that sparked their imagination or a project concept that totally hooked their interest. Although there are fears that products produced under this type of motivation may not be worth it at all, previous experience with excellent products proved that this is not so.

* To gain additional knowledge and experience -- Developers who want to improve themselves would join the fray and learn from the experts who are part of the development team - and they would even do this for free. On some occasions, the project may be related to a current concept or project at work, so they would join the open source project in an attempt to learn more about these concepts themselves.

* Ideology -- The free software movement by Richard Stallman have moral and social aspects that motivate people to join as part of their advocacy. This ideology can sometimes receive considerable donations or contribution from organizations and even philanthropic individuals. Such donations can draw more developers and motivate them to participate in this cause.

To learn more about the benefits of open source and how it can help your business or profession come and visit this blog as brought to you by Ron Bongo.