Stephen E. Arnold: Funding — and Looting — Open Source

Software
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Funding Open Source: Saddle Up, Don Quixotes

I read โ€œA New Funding Model for Open Source Software.โ€ The main idea is that the current approach to financial โ€œsupportโ€ of open source software is broken. I agree, particularly if one looks at the problem from the developer or developers in the โ€œcommunity.โ€

I noticed that none of the comments pointed out that open source has become the hunting ground for certain large technology companies. Github is owned by Microsoft; Amazon is ferrying open source code into its proprietary AWS walled garden; Google is โ€œcontributing to the communityโ€ and then using the community as a recruiting supply line. Other techniques are in play as well.

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