I get a little nervous when the responsibility of incentivizing FOSS is framed as a personal responsibility. Isn't there a deeper conversation to be had about how we allocate resources as a society to help build fundamental infrastructure instead of placing the blame on individual people or corporations on their lack of sponsorship or donation?
My apologies if this is flame-bait. I really don't know what the solution is. I certainly could admit that shaming people into contributing on an individual level is a valid tactic and that a good state to be in is to have individual and corporate sponsorship for a long tail of FOSS projects. I worry that focusing on the failings of individuals to fund projects takes attention away from other alternatives.
I really don't know what the alternative could be. UBI? A wide array of government grants for FOSS?
It's not flame-bait. We, as a society that values FOSS, should fund it, but not at the personal level of "I use this software so I'll pay for its license". FOSS licenses should state nothing about paying for the software. You should not feel bad because you are not paying FOSS at the individual level.
Taxes and allocation of funding at a societal level might indeed be the answer.
They benefit from FOSS as well, so maybe if we could do some adovacy. After all, I support paying taxes and funding stuff that doesn't directly benefit me.
My apologies if this is flame-bait. I really don't know what the solution is. I certainly could admit that shaming people into contributing on an individual level is a valid tactic and that a good state to be in is to have individual and corporate sponsorship for a long tail of FOSS projects. I worry that focusing on the failings of individuals to fund projects takes attention away from other alternatives.
I really don't know what the alternative could be. UBI? A wide array of government grants for FOSS?