That's a pretty shitty thing to do, in my opinion. Guilt tripping isn't the right way to go about this. If you want your cake and to eat it too, then use a license that expects financial compensation from commercial uses.
The founder and main developer has shared some of his thoughts in this matter here: https://marijnhaverbeke.nl/blog/sustainable-maintenance.html
He has put thousands of hours into these projects, and are giving them away for free – that is, if you can stomach the slight hint that if you're making money on it, then maybe contribute a tiny bit.
He hasn't blogged about burnout yet, like many other open source maintainers do. A recurring theme is about toxic community members. I hope he scrolls past your comment.
I'm all for donating to Open Source projects and supporting maintainers, but if you expect to profit from corporations exploiting your software, maybe don't license it as OSS?
If I use Open Sorce software and make money, but don't donate, is that socially unacceptable? Is that evil? Greedy?
What about literally every company that uses Open Source software? Are they evil too?
The spirit of Open Source software is that it comes with no or few strings attached. The idea that there is a social expectation to pay goes against that spirit, even if would be nice in theory.
Marijn has given CodeMirror to the world for free, and it is in my opinion a very valuable contribution indeed. Comments like yours reflect an entitled view of what proper behavior is for an open source developer.
Obviously anyone who wants to use CodeMirror commercially but doesn't feel Marijn is due any compensation for his work is free to act on that belief. I fail to see how that's "shitty."
You're free to pretend there's a constrained license, and pay the project for their work. Are you saying you'd rather be forced to do so by a license? That makes no sense -- you can do it without being forced, if you want to.
I mean, I like copyleft licensing. But it's perfectly reasonable (albeit possibly naïve) to request commercial donations on a non-copyleft project.
If I use the software and make money, but don't donate, should I fear being socially reprimanded? What's the line there?
Piracy is one thing, but this borders on extortion and frankly would make me uncomfortable using this software.
It's a request, not a demand. And this project's maintainer is being more upfront than other projects.
The developer states the following:
> If you are using CodeMirror commercially, there is a social expectation that you help fund its maintenance.
Calling it a "social expectation" is frankly a pretty big turn off for me.
Indeed, so let's assume because CodeMirror doesn't have a license like that, the authors don't "want their cake and eat it too", as the license is simply open source. Don't know where you get the whole "guilt tripping" stuff from, having a message that says "if you enjoy this, please donate" is guilt tripping...
> If you are using CodeMirror commercially, there is a social expectation that you help fund its maintenance.