Great point. In the current market for devs, the expected value of that is probably worth ~$10,000's+.
A switch is ultimately a mid spec Androidish tablet. I'd imagine embedded system manufacturers would really value him
https://github.com/feross/safe-buffer/blob/master/index.js
It’s a tiny API wrapper in JavaScript for older Node versions. While useful for someone on older Node, it doesn’t really say anything about the author’s embedded system chops.
This should have been mentioned in the original post as it gives some much-needed perspective about the scale of the contribution.
There's plenty of personal gain to be found being an OSS developer (especially in a group setting just outletting creatively with other talented people) without directly making the motivation prizes/money the end goal.
No one is against rewarding OSS developers as much as possible. I'm certainly not and think every successful company using OSS software, aka all of them, should have a wing donating to projects. But I am against watering it all down to some narrative of OSS developers somehow being exploited by commercial companies.
Having companies and individuals supporting him: https://feross.org/thanks/
As well as offering actual support contracts: https://feross.org/support/
Yeah, that's immediately what my mind went to. If my code was used by someone as major as Nintendo, then I wouldn't be making a fuss. But you can bet that I would have 50 different ways to move that into a discussion during a job interview.
Yeah, sure it would be nice if people sent me free things because they're using my code. However, putting restrictions on my code or making a huge stink about it on social media sounds like a good way for people to not use my code.
If I wanted something back for sure in exchange for my code, then I would license it such that I'm going to get something back or setup some other contract. I thought that's how adulthood worked. If you want something in exchange for your work then you need to set it up ahead of time. If you want to give somebody something then you shouldn't expect anything back. You gave it.