Progress Follows an Itch
Software development is fueled by personal itches. A developer’s specific problem or need causes him to write software that “scratches his itch.” This software, though intended for only a few individuals, eventually finds its way into the public domain–benefiting many others. An example is the Linux subversion software “Git.” Developed by Linus Torvalds, Git is an alternate to svn and cvs–allowing users to synchronize and archive versions of files locally and remotely. Torvalds expressed his dislike for available software, claiming none met his personal needs. Git has become widely used by software developers on Linux Systems. It’s easy to think that developing any substantial software to fix just one person’s problem is a dissipation of time; however, without such efforts the advancement of computing would reduce drastically.
