> By now we should be ready to accept that free software with no strings attached just isn't sustainable except for projects with big corporate backers.
That very much depends on who the authors of the software are and what their goals/motivations are. This is far too much of a blanket statement.
I agree that no one should be ashamed to sell software that they write. Also, those authors can and should be the ones to determine under what license the software is released (unless, of course, they are being paid by someone else to write it -- that's a different set of circumstances). But there are plenty of very useful open source projects that have been around for a very long time with no big corporate backers.
My little app to monitor and assess the growth and health of trees I just planted in my backyard is a hobby app. It's just for fun. I did it for me.
If you want to use it for your hobby, go ahead.
When the extension office down the road wanted to use it for their cactus farm, that was fine by me. I added some stuff specific to cactii that they wanted. They added some more stuff. No big deal. It works for them, I guess.
When the U.S. Forest Service expressed interest, I was surprised, but, hey, whatever. They added some features, but needed some small architectural changes for those changes to fit in. They were reasonable and easy, so it was ok. I have no idea where they use it or what they use it for, really. But if it works for them, great.
This latest contact out of Brazil, though, is different. They want me to fly down there for two months and completely re-work the app to monitor the entire Amazon forest. Thousands of species and tens of thousands of monitoring stations in a giant mesh network across much of a continent.
Should I ask them for a donation?
OSS can be a hobby. It can be a passion consuming a lot of time and energy. And it can be a job. If it is a job, you get paid.
Not sure what’s the point you are trying to make here. If you’re being hired (and flown) to extend the software it’s a consulting gig and not a “asking for a donation” situation, and you should quote accordingly. This is one of the traditional ways authors can benefit from OSS with permissive licenses.
Since you're only hearing from people who didn't pick up on it, I'm just going to say that I got your point and thought the Amazon example was plenty extreme enough to realize it was made up.
That very much depends on who the authors of the software are and what their goals/motivations are. This is far too much of a blanket statement.
I agree that no one should be ashamed to sell software that they write. Also, those authors can and should be the ones to determine under what license the software is released (unless, of course, they are being paid by someone else to write it -- that's a different set of circumstances). But there are plenty of very useful open source projects that have been around for a very long time with no big corporate backers.