Christofer Dutz, the creator and lead developer of the open-source libraries for industrial automation Apache PLC4X, currently serving as Vice President of the Apache Software Foundation overseeing the Apache PLC4X project, has issued a corporate ultimatum, stating he is prepared to cease development if he cannot resolve the funding issues surrounding his work.
Dissatisfaction arises from the fact that using Apache PLC4X instead of proprietary solutions allows corporations to save tens of millions of euros on purchasing licenses, yet there is insufficient support from the companies to facilitate development, despite the significant labor and financial investments required for equipment and software for Apache PLC4X.
Inspired by the fact that his development is utilized by major industrial enterprises, which have sent numerous requests and inquiries, in 2020 the author of PLC4X left his primary job and dedicated all his time to the development of PLC4X, intending to earn a living through consulting services and custom functionality enhancement. However, partly due to the downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, things did not go as expected, and to stay afloat and avoid bankruptcy, he had to rely on grants and sporadic one-off projects.
Ultimately, Christofer grew tired of spending his time without receiving adequate returns and recognizing the approach of emotional burnout, and he decided to discontinue providing free support to PLC4X users, and will now offer consultations, training, and support only on a paid basis. Moreover, from now on, he will only develop for free what is necessary for his work or presents interest for experiments, while the work on features or fixes that users need will only be done on a paid basis. For example, he will no longer develop drivers for new programming languages or create integration modules for free.
To implement important new features for users, a model resembling crowdfunding has been proposed, whereby ideas for expanding the capabilities of Apache PLC4X will only be realized once a certain amount has been raised to fund the development. For example, Christopher is ready to implement ideas for using PLC4X drivers in programs written in Rust, TypeScript, Python, or C#/.NET after €20,000 has been collected.
If the proposed scheme does not provide any financial support for development, Christopher has decided to shut down his business and cease support for the project on his part. It is worth noting that Apache PLC4X provides a set of libraries for unified access from programs written in Java, Go, and C to any type of industrial programmable logic controllers (PLC) and IoT devices. Integration with projects such as Apache Calcite, Apache Camel, Apache Edgent, Apache Kafka-Connect, Apache Karaf, and Apache NiFi ensures data processing.
Source: opennet.ru
