What alternatives do people have to monetize software in a more ethical way?
I particularly don't understand the funding that some software receive. What they have to grant to receive those funds?
I also search for some type of monetization "model" better than donations, but more ethical than ads.
If it's too much to explain I would be grateful for terms or books that I could search later.
Good software is abstracted and free.
Applying it to a business effectively is where the money gets made ethically.
Contribute to the projects you use!
While I totally agree that this should be the case, I’m not sure it really works. Voluntary participation is among the first things to be cut when it comes to monetary gain maximization, and is often not even considered. And in some instances, like the publicly funded research institute I work at, there’s no funds dedicated to voluntary contribution to open source projects.