> But I would guess most end user-facing things, like GNU, Linux, VLC etc. were built by academics or hobbyists, or foundations. I think some of those things f

> But I would guess most end user-facing things, like GNU, Linux, VLC etc. were built by academics or hobbyists, or foundations. I think some of those things from the "golden age" were built by people working on the clock, in salaried full-time positions, at companies that had businesses separate from that open source product, but which used the open source product for that business. They were getting paid to solve problems and get things done, and if they got it done with open source, that was fine, the company wasn't trying to make money off of the software that solved the problem. (Also by university faculty getting paid by the university).