Money and open source mix just fine. The practical reason that open source has exploded is that a large number of interested parties can contribute towards a p

Money and open source mix just fine. The practical reason that open source has exploded is that a large number of interested parties can contribute towards a project that benefits them all, avoiding duplication of effort. This is just the next logical step. Instead of contributing one hour of my time, I can spend it on my day job and pay for one hour of Andrew's time. In practice, this is exactly the same as the old model, just with higher efficiency - as a Django outsider (but user), one hour of Andrew's time is worth the first hundred of mine. If you don't want to contribute financially, you have no obligation to; just in the same way that you can use Django and contribute no code. It also doesn't stop you from helping in other ways - I'm sure Andrew would be thrilled to have help, so long as you spend those countless hours getting up to speed :)