They do https://nlnet.nl/core/ with https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101092990

What they already contribute is amazing, honestly. My concern is that, in order to build a genuine competitor to Windows, investment needs to increase substantially.

As it stands, getting into kernel development or working on something like a desktop environment (or adjacent software like Firefox or Chromium) is quite difficult in a way that supports you financially.

I mean, as individuals, we still invest personal time into public domain projects because we love to tinker and build stuff - but sadly we can't afford to do that full time.

The way Linux kernel stuff works, is you do a Linux internship with GSoC or Outreachy or LKMP , and then core Linux contributing companies like Intel, AMD etc gobble you up. Or you join FOSS consultancies Like Igalia, Bootlin, Collabora etc. Or you go the rockstar Patreon way like Asahi folks, trading off money for independence.

https://lwn.net/Articles/997959/ https://github.com/fossjobs/fossjobs/wiki/resources

Igalia is probably the best option for getting into core browser/etc work, they are hiring for WebKit/Chromium and are also working on Servo.

https://www.igalia.com/jobs/open/

This is where governments need to step in. We need grants to open source contributors as a national security priority. If you're helping build alternatives to American Big Tech, the state should sponsor that.