Though an individual may be "committed to a particular OSS project," it's hard to work on OSS in a vacuum. An open source developer is much more likely to have

Though an individual may be "committed to a particular OSS project," it's hard to work on OSS in a vacuum. An open source developer is much more likely to have a broader awareness of the software landscape, especially when it comes to the F/OSS ecosystem. That knowledge can be invaluable when large tasks with tight deadlines pop up. So as to your first point, I'd argue that the added domain knowledge would benefit your company, even if the specific project does not. As to your second point, it seems like that policy would only allow you to hire individuals that do not practice their craft off-hours. I'm not sure how that would improve the quality of your team or its products. All else being equal, I do believe that random companies should hire open source developers preferentially. If nothing else, the first and third bullets are quite useful: You can see real, working code before making a decision, and the commitment to a F/OSS project is a commitment to honing the developer's professional craft.