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I am a user of LaTeX for about two years and I can see that almost every package which exists for TeX is free and these packages are maintained perfectly; packages are updated regularly and new packages or classes are developed when needed.

Why people do such volunteer work? How do they benefit from the time they spend on creating and maintaining things related to TeX, LaTeX and friends? Do they do these just to have fun, fill their leisure time and learn something during the time they do not work or does working on these help people to develop their own business and work?

I know that every person may have his own reason to work on open source/free softwares, but how should I answer this question and convince somebody asking such question and thinks that it is just waste of time spending time on something which has not any financial benefit?

I personally really love TeX and LaTeX and spend some of my time learning about it but once somebody asked similar question and I had no answer to him.

David Carlisle
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enthu
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    Personally I simply have fun working with LaTeX, it's very rare that I can pull financial benefits from working with LaTeX. It's the same kind of altruism that you find in most open source projects. – Uwe Ziegenhagen Jul 04 '15 at 15:23
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    TeX macro programmers (i.e. package maintainers) are the slaves of their users :) – user81070 Jul 04 '15 at 15:28
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    Do you really believe that it is a waste of time to spend time on something when you don't get money from it? What would you do if you had enough money so that you don't have to work? Sitting the whole day in some chamber and stare into space? – Ulrike Fischer Jul 04 '15 at 15:37
  • @UlrikeFischer I do not think that it is waste of time, and I spend some time each day to learn about TeX, but when somebody else asks such question; I block and I have no good answer to give. – enthu Jul 04 '15 at 15:43
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    I was tricked in to it, how do I get out? – David Carlisle Jul 04 '15 at 15:45
  • Ask them my question. You will find out that most people do something they find worthwhile but is unpaid. – Ulrike Fischer Jul 04 '15 at 16:15
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    OTOH, the main reason I have never written a sty file is so that I don't have to maintain it. – John Kormylo Jul 04 '15 at 16:17
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    Some do streetwork to help kids in strange situations. Some are coaching a swimming team. Some help out in the local community, a homeless shelter for example. Some do LaTeX support and dev. Some develop other free software. I think the world would be a real strange place if anybody would just do, what he is paid for. – Johannes_B Jul 04 '15 at 16:53
  • People do voluntary work, no matter what it is, because they get some kind of non-financial satisfaction from it. (If you live a male 1950's lifestyle where the little woman stays at home and caters for all your needs then even washing the dishes is a voluntary action (unles you reduce her housekeeping allowance for that task))! – Peter Wilson Jul 04 '15 at 17:30
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    Isn't this off-topic? I mean people can answer for themselves, but who would be in a position to answer the general question? Maybe somebody could do a quick survey at TUG 2015? Find out why ducks do it? Interview the cat coders? – cfr Jul 05 '15 at 02:53
  • @cfr At the TeX.SX's chatroom last day, we had a short discussion about on-topicness of this question. Although we have similar opinion-based questions like this one on the site ((How can I explain the meaning of LaTeX to my grandma?) which are not closed at all; if this question is not closed and received no answers within the next days, I will ask moderators to close it. – enthu Jul 05 '15 at 07:10
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    For some, there is a business aspect to it. I've made myself very known and available as a TeX/LaTeX consultant of sorts in my circle. People come to me asking advice about or willing to pay for services (usually a résumé). Some questions are (happily) about how to integrate TeX into a software stack. Being that go-to-guy is in itself very fulfilling and it would not be possible without the time investment I've made. – Sean Allred Jul 06 '15 at 18:33
  • I guess this all boils down to the general philosophical question of the role and generation of altruism in a free market. Some economists see every act as a selfish act (read Ludwig von Mises, Human Action). Under this model (with which I agree) altruism is a selfish act by a self-interested individual who wants to make a difference to the world and to other people. A person who has a lot to give, can give away more. Someone who is starving cannot. – Aubrey Blumsohn Jul 06 '15 at 20:34
  • I never thought I'd make money on LaTeX until once some guy asked me to help him with his document and paid me for it, without me ever making any "I offer advice" ads. Unexpected things happen in life. Of course it was an "una tantum" experience, and I'm not going to become a millionaire for this, but I was surprised. – CarLaTeX Feb 14 '21 at 13:49

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