It would be nice reward the author for making something that is useful, not just by patting him/her on the back. I think that is what heyoo is talking about

Creating a useful tool that becomes well known (or a de facto standard) in the community, a successful project you proudly add to your resume, can pay for itself and much more indirectly.

Not as lucrative as profiting directly from it.

I respect non open source software very much. They put hard work into it, and I have absolutely zero, zilch right to ask for its source. I am willing and happy to pay for a service if it benefits me. OSS and non-OSS can coexist. There is no need to bash on non-OSS software. It's folks like you and me, writing code, providing for the family.

Github1s, I could see myself paying $50 for a yearly fee. I would use this thing all the time.

I get the opposite vibe from the parent comment: that usefulness and worthiness is often detached from monetary reward.

How nice it would be for great work to be compensated more fairly.

If it doesn't make money but need to run infrastructure it's not likely to live for very long?

def do_things_have_to_earn_money_to_have_any_worth(dev: Developer) -> bool:

    if dev.strong_financial_background():

      return False

    return True