No, I have never purchased a license. If a paid for license was required for my personal laptops (which I use professionally) then I would probably just use virtualenv.

You only need a commercial license under certain circumstances, and it only pertains to accessing the default package repository at repo.anaconda.com. You can still use conda-forge etc. Conda itself (the packaging tool) remains open source.

Part of the proceeds from the cost go to fund the Anaconda Dividend Program, which gives money to various open source projects in the pydata/scipy ecosystem.