I'm using FOSS but I'd still consider myself a casual user. It seems like most FOSS I've seen is a free, buggy, alternative to mainstream software, which resolves a problem the user had.

From my perspective, (and do correct me if I'm wrong) FOSS doesnt seem sustainable. Everyone can contribute, but how do they make a living? My guess is they do other things for income. And what about the few contributors who do 90% of the work?

What if every software became FOSS? Who would put in the free labor to write the software to print a page, or show an image on screen, or create something more complex like a machine learning advanced AI software?

Would it simply be that everyone provides for each other? Everyone pitches in? What about people who have bills to pay? Would their bills be covered?

This concludes my right-before-bed psychology inquiry.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] lorez@lemm.ee 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I mean, I compose music and release it but nobody gives me a dime. I imagine it's the same with software.

[–] JDubbleu@programming.dev 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Pretty much. I'm a plugin developer for Decky Loader on Steam Deck and my sole motivation is I enjoy building cool shit. I wanted a feature on my Deck that didn't exist...so I just made it. Then, since others wanted the feature I created a pull request to the Plugin Store so everyone could use it.

I've spoken with quite a few of the other Steam Deck Homebrew developers and they basically all had the same story. It's also nice because if you get stuck or need help there are hundreds of people you can ask who are very knowledgeable, and more than willing to help.