We need a better funding model for Open Source than a relatively small number of tech companies effectively paying everybody else's bills, but I don't think tha

We need a better funding model for Open Source than a relatively small number of tech companies effectively paying everybody else's bills, but I don't think that this is it. Other people have talked about the developer side, but not-quite Open Source doesn't necessarily work for users, either. Open Source is often less about money than convenience: the difference between totally free and $1 is sometimes all the difference. If Product A is FOSS under a OSI-approved license you can use it everywhere: you can try it out at home and on personal projects, install it on your machines at work, perhaps try and get your company to standardize on it, and work with third-party services that use exactly the same software. Once there's a form or a fee then there's meetings, and paperwork, and hassle.