Amazingly, many open source projects support
one or two developers and run exclusively on donations.
Bounties??”Software bounties are a fascinating way for open source software companies
to make money. Let??™s say that you are using XYZ software package and you need a new
feature right away. By paying a software bounty to the project itself, or to other software
developers, you can have your needed improvements moved to the head of the queue.
The software you pay for will remain covered by its open source license, but you will
have the features you need, at probably a fraction of the cost of building the project
from scratch.
Boxed sets, mugs, and T-shirts??”Many open source projects have online stores where
you can buy boxed sets (some people still like physical CDs and hard copies of documentation)
and a variety of mugs, T-shirts, mouse pads, and other items. If you really love a
project, for goodness sake, buy a T-shirt!
This is in no way an exhaustive list, because more creative ways are being invented every day to
support those who create open source software. Remember that many people have become contributors
to and maintainers of open source software because they needed or wanted the software
themselves. The contributions they make for free are worth the return they get from others who
do the same.
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