F/OSS isn't dead. Capitalism does consume almost everything it touches, and you should have seen it coming. The easy fix is to start using the F in F/OSS more

F/OSS isn't dead. Capitalism does consume almost everything it touches, and you should have seen it coming. The easy fix is to start using the F in F/OSS more (AGPL, etc), and force anyone who wants to use and extend your software for commercial use to pay up. Take that money, and invest it back in F/OSS software if you want -- use it to buy treats for your dog if you want. If you want wider reach and use for your software (which in a sense is even more "free" for some meaning of the word), then use the GPLv2/MIT license or other such permissive licenses. The hard fix is trying to win over hearts and minds when it comes to OSS-washing and the marketing pushes/strategies companies employ these days to get people to write/maintain their software for them. The problem here is that some people are absolutely fine with the current situation -- many get absurdly cheap (essentially free) meaningfully complex software even if it's basically shareware from corporations, and are fine with that. Many also are fine creating software that is permissively licensed because people write software for all sorts of reasons, fame and recognition being one. It does make me glad to see this narrative coming up on HN though -- the corporatization of OSS has been happening for a long time now and needs more attention drawn to it. Every company has a right to try to make money with software, but some are more well-intentioned than others (and they usually suffer from a harder route to market viability).