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The point of open source is people can use it freely. A better project, which hits the right spots will naturally attract financial and technical support, both from the companies and the community. It is really just a free market, where the best projects survive.

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Financial support is pretty arbitrary and not related to quality, user numbers or importance of the software.

OpenSSL has only recently received support despite powering all the Internet infrastructure for decades.

Xorg, xterm etc. have received very little or nothing. Same for most Unix system tools.

Projects that receive the most are "open" source corporate vanity projects that are also used for bait-and-switch hiring.

It's almost like open-source needs a micropayments solution.

If every download cost a tiny amount, could it add up to pay some maintainers full time?

_people_ not big corporations that make billions, don't pay tax and don't share revenue made using the open source software. Personal use should be free but gravy train for corporations must end.

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