• themurphy@lemmy.ml
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    12 hours ago

    If only there was a way to fund open source projects so we both could have better software for the world and paid employees…

    I think you can guess which government body already do this. Just take a shot.

    • sj_zero@lotide.fbxl.net
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      12 hours ago

      Big question is: how many of us are funding foss projects?

      It isn’t difficult, and with how popular some are, it wouldn’t be long before the projects could hire one or more full time devs at good rates.

      I support a few big projects I use every month through liberapay.

      • non_burglar@lemmy.world
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        9 hours ago

        Love the enthusiasm, but let’s stop casting this as an end-user-only problem. The real issue is, once again, large corporations using and taking advantage of oss while putting ZERO money or work back into oss. It’s victim blaming with extra steps, and us blaming each other is exactly what the real culprits want.

        If it makes us feel better that we can pay on a regulsr basis for these things, great. But massive oss projects can’t thrive on a few of us donating.

      • Great Blue Heron@lemmy.ca
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        10 hours ago

        I think the bigger question is how many corporations are supporting foss projects? I’m sure a lot of us contribute a bit here and there if we can and I’m sure it makes a difference - but if some of these corporations, making billions of dollars profit, contribute just a tiny fraction of their wealth it could make a huge difference.

        It’s the same argument as recycling, turning off lights, walking instead of driving etc. etc. - yes there are 8 billion of us and if we all do it, it will make a difference, but the difference we make is still not significant compared to corporate greed.

        We are being gaslit to accept yet another scenario where we socialize the cost and privatize the profit.

        • ksh@aussie.zone
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          10 hours ago

          A corporation has no obligations towards foss projects, no different to any individual being made to fund them.

          • Bob Robertson IX@lemmy.world
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            9 hours ago

            This isn’t true, a lot of corporations use and benefit from the foss and they should be supporting those projects.

            They should also be supporting projects that could replace the applications that they spend millions on each year. When your CIO says that they are using ‘whatever corpo system’ because a viable open source project doesn’t exist, they should start funding the non-viable projects so they can become viable.

            • Katana314@lemmy.world
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              30 minutes ago

              The problem is, I feel like more recent MBA lessons tell people that the “rising tide that lifts all ships” is a business death sentence, for reasons unexplained. Many of them now would rather sink the whole ocean if they believe that their business will sink a little bit less.

            • richmondez@lemdro.id
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              9 hours ago

              Worse they often report issues that affect them but still don’t commit resources to resolving those issues.

            • iegod@lemmy.zip
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              8 hours ago

              they should be supporting those projects

              As long as the end user is abiding by the licensing terms it shouldn’t be an expectation that any additional support is coming from anywhere. This is the nature of foss. The contributors should know this.

              • Novi Sad@feddit.org
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                7 hours ago

                Licensing terms only govern the legal aspects, not social and moral aspects.

                • iegod@lemmy.zip
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                  7 hours ago

                  Of course, but as we know there is no universal agreements for either. The expectations are ill placed.

                  • tabular@lemmy.world
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                    6 hours ago

                    We don’t need the madman who thinks suffering is good to change their mind for sensible people to act, as medicine doesn’t need the madman who thinks alway throwing up is healthy. We place expectations on others everyday: like when we walk past a stranger. Perfect agreement are not needed to have expectations, or demand better from those who benefit from others.

      • vatlark@lemmy.world
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        10 hours ago

        Liberapay is really nice. I like the payment options they have to minimize the fees, like making 2 years of small “monthly” payments in a single charge to your bank card.

    • sj_zero@lotide.fbxl.net
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      12 hours ago

      Big question is: how many of us are funding foss projects?

      It isn’t difficult, and with how popular some are, it wouldn’t be long before the projects could hire one or more full time devs at good rates.

      I support a few big projects I use every month through liberapay.