Maintaining open-source code is a vital but stressful job. Despite that, a recent Tidelift survey found that almost half of code maintainers aren't paid at all.
I’ve unfortunately never had the time to contribute to an open source project, but I have the utmost respect for those who do! It makes me sad to see how entitled some people are when they donate their time to make the world a better place.
I have to admit that I’m part of the problem too, since I tend to use only free (as in beer) software. Really the only software I pay for is games, which is kind of hypocritical being a FOSS advocate. For some reason I’m willing to drop $60 on a game that I’ll play for 20 hours, but I won’t pay a cent for, say, Emacs that I use 8+ hours a day every day. I guess getting a new game gets you that endorphin hit, but an editor isn’t that exciting.
This is a good time for me to check myself and donate to some software I use.
I think you actively using the program and recommending it to people, goes a long way and warms the heart of developers to see people using the code they spent hours upon hours on.
Enjoying, and spreading the word about great software is another form of donation, and they all count :)
I’ve unfortunately never had the time to contribute to an open source project, but I have the utmost respect for those who do! It makes me sad to see how entitled some people are when they donate their time to make the world a better place.
I have to admit that I’m part of the problem too, since I tend to use only free (as in beer) software. Really the only software I pay for is games, which is kind of hypocritical being a FOSS advocate. For some reason I’m willing to drop $60 on a game that I’ll play for 20 hours, but I won’t pay a cent for, say, Emacs that I use 8+ hours a day every day. I guess getting a new game gets you that endorphin hit, but an editor isn’t that exciting.
This is a good time for me to check myself and donate to some software I use.
I think you actively using the program and recommending it to people, goes a long way and warms the heart of developers to see people using the code they spent hours upon hours on.
Enjoying, and spreading the word about great software is another form of donation, and they all count :)