How could we structure FOSS projects in a way that contributors could do it full time? The current model of orgs hiring devs works, but it only benefits a handful of people per project.
Some variation on a "bug bounty" system? Pay-per-commit? You still need people to direct and review the work, and ideally they would be compensated as well.
This capitalism bullshit really holds us back as a society.
I realize that there's also a big hurdle of getting people to pay money for a project that has no deliverables and may not for a long time.
"Pay us money now, we're going to build a new web browser! But it won't really be usable for like... a WHILE."
@karlexceed I think NLNet has a good model.
Also, UBI / social safety net helps a lot, i.e, if you don't want to work for a wage you are still allowed to exist.
Unity game engine was started by a bunch of broke college kids in a bed room doing OpenAL fixes on a grant from the danish government.
@forestjohnson I'd never really looked into NLNet, but I have definitely seen the name mentioned by various FOSS projects.
This bit of Dutch law that allowed for their founding is pretty cool: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stichting
Absolutely agreed about UBI.