Re:Paying Maintainers Isn’t a Magic Bullet
by fluoridation on Monday December 05, 2022 @07:23AM
(#33864663)
That would not level the field. Someone who is disadvantaged would not be able to dedicate as much time to writing software as someone who is not. So while someone who is disadvantaged may be able to dedicate, let's say, two hours a day and get paid for it, someone else may be able to get paid for two hours and then do it some more for two more hours for free.
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Re:Paying Maintainers Isn’t a Magic Bullet
by varispeed on Monday December 05, 2022 @01:53PM
(#33870039)
The whole point of level playing field is that they must be remunerated, so there is no instance of someone doing something for free.
We had similar problem in my country with apprenticeships, that used to be unpaid. The good ones where snapped up white middle class children, while children from ethnic minorities had to work for money, not necessarily in their field of interest. That amplified the lack of diversity in the space of white collar jobs. Now unpaid apprenticeships are illegal and that has vastly improved the access to jobs for people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
It's exactly the same situation with OSS.