Brent Simmons (makes NetNewsWire for Mac and iPhone) made a very good post on this topic (well, charging for features, not related to open source specifically)

Brent Simmons (makes NetNewsWire for Mac and iPhone) made a very good post on this topic (well, charging for features, not related to open source specifically) awhile back: http://inessential.com/2009/07/16/dont_offer_50_for_your_favorite_feat http://inessential.com/2009/07/16/dont_offer_50_for_your_fav.... Its well worth reading (as are Daniel Jalkut's thoughts on the conversation, linked to from the blog post). Basically, the points they make are that the motivator for most developers (on all projects, not just open source ones) is to make something good, with money being a side result of your efforts, but not the goal. Or, to paraphrase Daniel a bit, you want freaking awesome and not to simply be going through motions to pay off bills.