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Comment by jimbob45 | Hacker News Reader

We do all this self-congratulation around funding OSS companies and then end up with OSS companies that exist only thanks to government subsidization. Why? Isn’t governmental control over funding what we hate about Microsoft? What is so bad about letting real customers decide which companies need funding?

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"Isn’t governmental control over funding what we hate about Microsoft?"

No. And, I'm confused why you'd think that's the problem "we" have with Microsoft or any other monopolist.

> What is so bad about letting real customers decide which companies need funding?

Because human nature means you won't get paid when something is free. There's donate options but those are not a reliable source of money.

Unless your software is big enough that you can make money through support contracts, I don't see how you can keep the lights on while being paid

Governments are real customers. The German government, I guess, pays about 30 times more annually to Microsoft than the budget of the STF. The other component of sovereign tech is that governments are actually using FOSS. There is some room there for improvement.

Then charge a fair price for your work (ie the software you deliver). That's the completely fair solution for all sides of the equation. People who don't want your stuff don't get stuck with the bill and people who do want your stuff aren't taking it for free.

The idea of democracies is that the government is answerable to its people, though the idea may seem quaint in this day and age.

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