> By making "sacrifice" a requirement it makes it off putting for someone with kids, or working in a job that has them working long hours, or working multiple j

> By making "sacrifice" a requirement it makes it off putting for someone with kids, or working in a job that has them working long hours, or working multiple jobs. I think I understand what you are saying, but perhaps you are talking at cross purposes with the OP. I don't think anyone thinks that sacrifice is required from the perspective that you owe it to anyone to do anything in particular. But, as you know from maintaining a project, what you do is always a trade off. Even if you negotiate time for open source maintenance in your work, you may suffer in your career compared to the person who focuses only on climbing the ladder. In fact, I do not allow my work to pay for my free software work -- because freedom is the thing I want from that work. People who pay usually expect something in return and I seriously am not inclined to give it to them (especially since the demands are usually after the fact). There are many people who think you can have it all. If you spend hundreds of hours working on free software, working on not-free software, playing video games, watching reality shows, typing replies into HN, etc, etc, that time is spent. That's time you don't get to spend with your kids. Or your spouse. Or walking in the woods. It's important that people who choose to do these things actually choose, I think. It's all too easy to get to a certain age and realise, "Well, crap. That's not what I wanted to have done". So, yes, it's a sacrifice. You don't get to do it for free. Someone with kids, or working in a job that has long hours, or working multiple jobs often will not choose to spend hundreds of house writing free software. They have more important things to do, and that's totally OK.