Nothing is ever free unless your time has no value. I've published and contributed to a great deal of open source software, much of it successful. I've been among these communities for a very long time and understand the social expectations. One of them is this: if you want anyone to care about your work, then you'd better be prepared to defend it. I would find any contrary expectation to be unbearably narcissistic, and, whatever his other failings, I think CK would agree with me on this. Think of it this way: if you published an essay containing controversial opinions, would you demand that it be immune to criticism on the basis that you're giving it away for free? I don't think software should be considered different in any case, and certainly not in this one given that CK is representing his work as an improvement over someone else's.
I've published and contributed to a great deal of open source software, much of it successful.
I have also published a great deal of open source software, much of it successful, and some of it almost universally used. Unfortunately, that does absolutely nothing to bolster either of our arguments.
If you published an essay containing controversial opinions, would you demand that it be immune to criticism on the basis that you're giving it away for free
You asked for: "I want some evidence that I'm going to be gaining something".
If we try to apply that to your analogy, why is it the author's responsibility to not only produce the work, document the work, but then also supply their own literary criticism so that you can decide if the work is worthwhile, all before the essay is completed and ready for publication?
Open source developers regularly produce software just because they want to, and feel no impetus or desire to convince you of anything. That's not, as you put it, some sort of "narcissistic" behavior, but rather a desire to simply share without additional burden or demands by others.
For what it's worth, the kind of analysis dfranke expects is required in the academic community. If you provide no evidence that what you've created is better than the status-quo, then no one will care. I don't consider this an "additional burden."
