The Wesnoth devs are good but not exceptionally so, and we're weighed down by a crappy implementation language (C++). Nevertheless our productivity, in terms of goals achieved per hour of work, is quite high.

If Unix could present the same face, the same capabilities, on machines of many different types, it could serve as a common software environment for all of them.

Any tool should be useful in the expected way, but a truly great tool lends itself to uses you never expected.

You cannot motivate the best people with money. Money is just a way to keep score. The best people in any field are motivated by passion.

We hackers are a playful bunch; we'll hack anything, including language, if it looks like fun (thus our tropism for puns). Deep down, we like confusing people who are stuffier and less mentally agile than we are, especially when they're bosses. There's a little bit of the mad scientist in all hackers, ready to discombobulate the world and flip authority the finger - especially if we can do it with snazzy special effects.

Why the hell hasn't wxPython become the standard GUI for Python yet?

Every good work of software starts by scratching a developers personal itch.