Go look at the plugin list in your WordPress/bbPress - when was the last time you donated to any of them?
Geeks are a strange breed. We'll code our fingers off because it's fun. Seeing somebody use our code (they like me! They really really like me!) is better payment than dollars.
(So long as we're being fed and can keep the internet from getting shut off due to non-payment)
Call me shallow but I like some of the nicer things in life. And I want to buy a fast car too. If a hardware engineer can do it, is it wrong for me to want to do it ?
This isn't necessarily an open source thing, either. I'm not a part of an OSS projects, but I am part of projects that cost me money, that I see almost no financial return from, and that make me happy simply because people use them.
i disagree. there are so many more people who go with free theme options over paid themes. same for plugins. you can make a lot of money with both if you make something people want to pay for.