Somebody Else's Problem - Technology

Technology

The sub-goals of programmers working on a shared artifact "can be deferred to the degree that they become what is known amongst professional programmers as an 'S.E.P.' - somebody else's problem." This can be considered an aspect of social loafing where, in some instances, while working as a team individuals become less productive because they feel less responsible for the final product.

Unix became popular because when it was developed at Bell Labs where "profits were somebody else's problem," so there was no reason not to share the source code with universities. This means that Bell Labs were not concerned with making Unix a profitable computer operating system and thus in turn making it conveniently accessible to university campuses.

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