> It really takes a saint to pour one’s heart and soul into a piece software, for free, and then have the commercial benefits go to huge public companies like G

> It really takes a saint to pour one’s heart and soul into a piece software, for free, and then have the commercial benefits go to huge public companies like Google. If anything, a "saint" should be writing software to benefit end users and especially for people in need or other social good. It's hard to claim sanctity when doing unpaid labor for a FAANG (making some billionaire wealthier and therefore increasing inequality). > This would all be fine if we lived in a socialist world, but we don’t. Most of breakthrough technological R&D has been paid with tax money: semiconductors, computers, satellites, GPS, GSM, radar, laser, fiber optics, telephones, batteries, Internet, airplanes. The same goes for the bulk of scientific research in the last 100 years. Not to mention funding practical needs like building roads. > What are the best alternatives to this model? One option is to demand public code for public money. In the meantime, AGPL helps a lot to keep some FAANGs at bay.