These days, there seems to be (at least) two kinds of open source software developers:
0. Those who release their code under an open source license, in the hope that it will be useful to others in some way.
1. Those who do the same as above, with the additional hope that they will be paid for in some ill-defined way. And when they are not, take to twitter and blogs to proclaim, "somebody should really do something about this!"
I do think there is a real problem whereby very important code that a lot of people and systems depend on is looked after part time (or not at all) and nobody thinks about it until it has a severe bug.
But that's almost orthogonal to the issue of whether the original developer should be paid because their code turns out to be useful to lots of people.
I think it’s a problem, but don’t think funding is a good solution. If funding was good, then commercial products would serve the purpose.
I think a better approach is to encourage more smart developers contributing time. And if companies find an individual or a percent of a person’s time on a project that’s actually funding. But it’s very different from trying to replicate direct funds.
> If funding was good, then commercial products would serve the purpose.
Not sure that's a solid affirmation, especially given how there are many open source projects receiving funding that often outcompete their commercial counterparts. In particular I would point out the major open source backing foundations such as the CNCF and Linux Foundation who help to fund their own projects. Would you say that these two organizations and their projects are not serving their purpose or are being outcompeted by commercial offerings?
2. those that start out as 0, but become 1 when it turns out their software they hoped would be useful winds up /costing them/ in some ill-defined way.
That's not how it works. You start writing the code thinking it will be easy. You'll be done in a few weeks. You can see it all in your head. But in fact, it's never done. And it takes more and more time. Now you can't justify the effort because it's interfering with the rest of your life. You need relief from time spent doing paid work to keep working on the project.
0. Those who release their code under an open source license, in the hope that it will be useful to others in some way.
1. Those who do the same as above, with the additional hope that they will be paid for in some ill-defined way. And when they are not, take to twitter and blogs to proclaim, "somebody should really do something about this!"