Almost 25 years ago, Steve Ballmer called Linux a cancer.

Then CEO of Microsoft, the guy was ahead of his time. Two and a half decades later, we know how developers feel about open source:

It’s a pain to install, maintain, and run. Closed source is safer and more scalable. They’d much rather have no control over the software they rely on. And the best part? They never have to see the code.

If open source doesn’t do what you want, you might have to try to fix it yourself. That’s like a riddle that must be solved. Since they are naturally incurious, ​developers hate puzzles​.

Anyone who cries “vendor lock-in” hasn’t handled migrations. Closed source means you never have to switch services. Because you can’t.

Open source means community consensus. That sounds exhausting and inefficient.

Developers prefer to be told what their software will do. “Any color you want, as long as it’s black” worked at Ford in the early 1900s. It’s timeless.

Steve Ballmer saw all of this coming. He also gave the ​restrained oration​ known as “Ode to Engineers.”

And if you believe any of that, please know it was all written on April Fool’s Day.

Open source is how developers learn, build, and decide whether to trust a product.

Have you seen all the interest in OpenClaw? Major emphasis on the “Open.”

When developers search for tools, we found they ​frequently look for open source​.

Even as AI takes center stage in developer workflows, open source remains vital. If anything, open source matters more now: while most LLMs are closed, the tools developers use to interact with models are often open source.

If your product is closed source, developers will still expect you to understand how open source fits into their world. Show them that, and your product fits too.

Happy April Fool’s Day. Now go star a repo!