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The reasons aren't so different from the reasons for writing any other software.

1. Even if the project never replaces the other software you use, you gain a better understanding of that other software by solving some of the same problems, making the same mistakes, learning the same lessons.

2. You may have special requirements that don't make sense to add to an existing project aimed at a broader audience. This is where a lot of niche microcontroller OSes come from.

3. You have a crazy idea that would be hard to explore within the architecture of an existing project. If it turns out to be crazy enough to work, then maybe people will do the work to migrate it to the mainstream.

4. Everyone has a little dream that the masses will find great value in their work and flock to it, supplanting the status quo. Like becoming a billionaire, it essentially never happens, but you can't blame people for trying.



5. fun.

A lot of people -myself included- enjoy solving puzzles for fun. So I often set myself weird or obscure challenges to solve with code.




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