I understand and really like the idea of an open design processes, but can't help but feel this encourages working for free and developing spec work. Though maybe I am not understanding it correctly.
Charities for example, might have a designer working pro bono. However, within that capacity, they are essentially working under the same constraints a designer on a team would. Many libre / open source projects don't have the funding nor structure to hire a designer.
Let it be clear, contests and speculative efforts are a toxic cesspool. Encouraging designers to integrate with a team, pro bono or otherwise, is a trend away from contests and speculative garbage.