> You can look at places with less funding

Yeah, like FOSS which is drastically underfunded since birth, yet continues to put out software that the entire world ends up relying on, instead of relying on whatever VC-pumped companies are putting out.

I'm not talking "better software" as in "made a lot of money", I meant "better" as in "had a better impact on the world".

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esafak 3 hours ago | parent [-]

FOSS software is written by people working at companies that likely owe their existence to VC.

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weiliddat 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

That sounds like more sign of recent times.

FOSS software that many rely on that has been around for a while were non-VC: VCS, Linux / GNU / BSD, web browsers, various programming languages, various databases...

	▲	rhplus 27 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Sure, those projects were un(der)funded in the 80s and 90s but the reason we talk about them today is because of the huge amount of investment - both direct and in kind - that VC backed companies have managed to give to many of them. I think it’s easy to forget how long ago it was when FOSS truly was the outsider and wouldn’t be touched by most companies. Mozilla/Firefox started in 1998 and then started taking ad revenue from Google in 2005, which pays for a large chunk of its development. It’s been part of the Silicon Valley money machine for 20 years, most of its existence.

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hrimfaxi 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

What gave you that idea?

	▲	esafak 38 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Because Silicon Valley, which contributes the majority of the code, is venture backed. For example, 84% of the Linux kernel's development is corporate: https://commandlinux.com/statistics/linux-foundation-growth-... I don't know why people are so upset here.