http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/beginner/default.aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/coding4fun/

I rather liked Stallman’s point about those who give things away at first and then, once you are hooked decide to up the price, comparing MS to drug dealers.

But, in all seriousness, it should be obvious that open source provides benefits for the education market, and provides a way to learn about and study an OS at a deeper level than a proprietary OS in which you can’t see the source code.

Given a 21 year old who can show you the open source projects he has worked on and the features he has contributed to them, and a 21 year old who has done any of the things you’ve listed, a hiring manager who hires the one who has done the things you’ve listed should be fired summarily for gross incompetence. Given a 21 year old with no formal background, and who can show you the open source projects he has worked on and the features he has contributed to them, and a MIT CS grad, the call is closer, but most managers would still prefer the one with real world experience, unless the project is mind-numbingly stupid and the manager prefers someone with no imagination.

(I have been known to exaggerate to prove my point, and to someone who has not hired or managed programmers it may sound like exaggeration, but as someone who was both a practicing programmer and a manager responsible for hiring programmers I’m not joking in the slightest here.)

The answer, Don is partly contained in the the very significant word “generic” in your question:

http://enigmafoundry.wordpress.com/2006/11/22/copybot-resistance/

FLOSS participation is one way, but certainly not the only way. There seem to be just as many other ways for young and old alike to learn how to program. Many people (policywonks, journalists) focus on FLOSS because it is new and the flavor du jour. There are probably more ways for young people to learn to program in commercial products because there’s a sustained focus on this activity.

There are programs that provide software to universities, and there are free versions of people’s tools. And sites like these:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/beginner/default.aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/coding4fun/

And other, non-conventional routes like the Imagine Cup, which has become huge and international. http://imaginecup.com/default.aspx

FLOSS participation is one way, but certainly not the only way. There seem to be just as many other ways for young and old alike to learn how to program. Many people (policywonks, journalists) focus on FLOSS because it is new and the flavor du jour. There are probably more ways for young people to learn to program in commercial products because there’s a sustained focus on this activity.

There are programs that provide software to universities, and there are free versions of people’s tools. And sites like these:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/beginner/default.aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/coding4fun/

And other, non-conventional routes like the Imagine Cup, which has become huge and international. http://imaginecup.com/default.aspx

If that code hadn’t been open to me, the employment opportunity probably wouldn’t have, either–at least, not as early as it did (while I was just entering college).

It might be because of liability. You can give away software that wasn’t certified as “This was signed by a competent person who attests it does exactly what it’s supposed to do and only that. You may sue me if I’m wrong.” You can do this because there are zillions of uses for software that aren’t critical. In most countries, there are strict building codes that have to be adhered to and it may be too expensive from a liability point of view. I have a hard time imagining a contractor who would agree to build a house according to plans that “I downloaded from an open source engineering (or architecture) site.” At least in North America.

FLOSS though is a method to both distribute AND more importantly validate a coders “portfolio” I wish I could do that! And basically for free!