There's no problem with open source contributors making money from their work. The problem is, there is a chance that this subtle change in perspective will evolve into an unhealthy culture.
Especially since this is coming from Yehuda Katz. I've seen several people using things like Gun.io to fund patches and small additions to open source libraries, but it always seems to come from people you never see in the community - outsourcers, or people who just aren't that into coding but still code. But once a leader in the community does this... It's up in the air what this will do long term.
Here's one possible outcome. It becomes "cool" to crowd fund open source projects, so a few of the up-and-coming coders with new open source projects start doing this too. In a year or two, a big chunk of the top coders are charging to do open source work. It's a badge of worthiness... Coderwall.com get's it's "$25k+ achievement" badge.
Then one of two things can happen. The unlikely thing is, it evens out, there's a happy balance - some people charge, some people don't. Much more likely is people either start charging ridiculous amounts, the quality of free open source projects drastically decreases, or people start keeping their projects to themselves. This eventually leads to rebellion, and the true ones left start ANOTHER Free Software Foundation that gets back to the roots.
This kind of stuff happens, out of seemingly innocent and well-intentioned moves.
Like everyone's said, companies like 37signals and all the companies we work at fund open source projects, so one way or another we're getting some sort of payment. It's totally cool to make money off your open source work like this, nobody really sees it even though we all know. It's this indirectness that keeps the community healthy. It creates a feeling of open-ness. A culture. Asking for money directly like this doesn't make things feel open anymore, and like everything it will spiral.
Especially since this is coming from Yehuda Katz. I've seen several people using things like Gun.io to fund patches and small additions to open source libraries, but it always seems to come from people you never see in the community - outsourcers, or people who just aren't that into coding but still code. But once a leader in the community does this... It's up in the air what this will do long term.
Here's one possible outcome. It becomes "cool" to crowd fund open source projects, so a few of the up-and-coming coders with new open source projects start doing this too. In a year or two, a big chunk of the top coders are charging to do open source work. It's a badge of worthiness... Coderwall.com get's it's "$25k+ achievement" badge.
Then one of two things can happen. The unlikely thing is, it evens out, there's a happy balance - some people charge, some people don't. Much more likely is people either start charging ridiculous amounts, the quality of free open source projects drastically decreases, or people start keeping their projects to themselves. This eventually leads to rebellion, and the true ones left start ANOTHER Free Software Foundation that gets back to the roots.
This kind of stuff happens, out of seemingly innocent and well-intentioned moves.
Like everyone's said, companies like 37signals and all the companies we work at fund open source projects, so one way or another we're getting some sort of payment. It's totally cool to make money off your open source work like this, nobody really sees it even though we all know. It's this indirectness that keeps the community healthy. It creates a feeling of open-ness. A culture. Asking for money directly like this doesn't make things feel open anymore, and like everything it will spiral.