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> FOSS has always and only ever asked for giving back code, not money. Which is one of the reasons of disillusionment from them. On one hand, FOSS licenses onl

> FOSS has always and only ever asked for giving back code, not money. Which is one of the reasons of disillusionment from them. On one hand, FOSS licenses only benefits developers who can fix the software to their liking – a non-developer user would likely just pay for it to make sure that they can get reliable, professional support. On the other hand, it assumes that the labour of developers is worthless (or at the very least, it's value is completely dissociated from its real-world impact). > There are many, many conversations going on about additional ways to fund FOSS development. Are any of them non-reliant on either the altruism of their users (donations, patronage, etc.), or selling value-added services that can easily be undercut by a party with deeper pockets (e.g., MongoDB vs AWS)?

ensignavenger 5y ago
Open Source benefits anyone because they can pay some one else to provide reliable, professional support. It benefits everyone because if the original developers stop supporting it anyone can pay some one else to support it. It benefits all because we can decide to fork, or pay some one else to fork, the software and customize it to our needs.
- HexDecOctBin 5y ago
  Does that happen though? log4j developers were working overtime to fix the security bug [1], while corporation expected them to release the fix ASAP for free. Who was paying? [1]: https://twitter.com/yazicivo/status/1469349956880408583 https://twitter.com/yazicivo/status/1469349956880408583
  - aloisdg 5y ago
    I am glad they did though they didn't have to.
  - ensignavenger 5y ago
    Like, all the time? I'm not sure what you mean- Log4j has several listed on their website- https://logging.apache.org/log4j/2.x/thanks.html https://logging.apache.org/log4j/2.x/thanks.html, and many dozens of people directly sponsor log4j contributors via Github Sponsors- https://logging.apache.org/log4j/2.x/thanks.html https://logging.apache.org/log4j/2.x/thanks.html There are also various log4j forks. And that is just the one project you mentioned, the world of Open Source software is very vast, with many contributors, forks, and financial sponsors.

ensignavenger 5y ago

Open Source benefits anyone because they can pay some one else to provide reliable, professional support. It benefits everyone because if the original developers stop supporting it anyone can pay some one else to support it. It benefits all because we can decide to fork, or pay some one else to fork, the software and customize it to our needs.

HexDecOctBin 5y ago
Does that happen though? log4j developers were working overtime to fix the security bug [1], while corporation expected them to release the fix ASAP for free. Who was paying? [1]: https://twitter.com/yazicivo/status/1469349956880408583 https://twitter.com/yazicivo/status/1469349956880408583
- aloisdg 5y ago
  I am glad they did though they didn't have to.
- ensignavenger 5y ago
  Like, all the time? I'm not sure what you mean- Log4j has several listed on their website- https://logging.apache.org/log4j/2.x/thanks.html https://logging.apache.org/log4j/2.x/thanks.html, and many dozens of people directly sponsor log4j contributors via Github Sponsors- https://logging.apache.org/log4j/2.x/thanks.html https://logging.apache.org/log4j/2.x/thanks.html There are also various log4j forks. And that is just the one project you mentioned, the world of Open Source software is very vast, with many contributors, forks, and financial sponsors.