How should open source software development be funded?
One of the crucial difficulties in the open source model seems to be just how all that programmer time will be paid for. Most people assume that relying on volunteer labor will never suffice to meet all of the needs out there. There are a few reasons for this… For example, people need to eat. Programmers need their supplies of soda and chips. Many of us would produce a lot more free software if we didn’t burn ourselves out on our day jobs first. Unfortunately, we have to keep said day jobs, lest we become another one of those people out there with “will write visual basic modules for food” signs. Another reason is that the people who can pay for software development are often reluctant to give away the product they paid to build. Maybe they do not want to disclose their algorithms. Or maybe they are afraid that their competition will benefit more from a source code disclosure then they will. What happens when some company releases its source with great fanfare, but the cadre of progr
