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I think making employers pay for it can cause the cost to be too high. And still there'd be thousands of small-medium companies, schools, and universities who won't buy the subscription - the majority of the population won't have access to it.

I believe it HAS to be kept free for the general public, no matter what.

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I totally agree with this. I should have clarified that when I say "funding open source," I think of that differently from "paying for software/resources" - this would not involve paying for access, just paying for continued development and maintenance.

Of course, as other commenters have been pointed out, it's hard to sell companies on paying something they "have" for free. Which is why companies will shell out big money for the O'Reilly Learning Platform or MSDN ($500/year/seat for the former!) but not even think about spending money on a community resource.

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