The Role of Money in Open Source
<p>
Maintainers of
<a class="wikilink" href="/open_source/">
Open Source
</a>
projects are often not payed to do it. Therefore, the projects rely on a voluntary contribution of time from groups of people who operate under very diverse believes.
<a class="wikilink" href="/nadia_eghbal/">
Nadia Eghbal
</a>
explores the role of money in open source[
<a class="litnote tooltip" href="/literature/@eghbal2020">
@eghbal2020
<span class="tooltiptext">
Working in public: the making and maintenance of open source software
</span>
</a>
] by looking at some very specific cases:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
Companies fund open source to increase their image or to guarantee code quality and maintenance
</li>
<li>
Companies pay for premium support (i.e. they pay for the attention of a developer, see:
<a class="wikilink" href="/maintenance_costs_of_open_source_projects/">
Maintenance costs of open source projects
</a>
)
</li>
<li>
Code can be released with dual-licenses, or some key features may be missing from the free version
</li>
<li>
Individual donations to maintainers
</li>
</ul>
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