Comment by aorth
2 years ago
Ouch. I sponsored the developer on GitHub for a few months precisely because I realized that we need to support independent developers who are in the trenches building un-sexy software like SMS, Gallery, Calendar, etc. I don't blame them for selling, but it does leave a bad taste in my mouth...
We need a Mozilla-type organization that is a nonprofit and focuses on open-source computing tools and apps. Operating system, file managers, galleries, email clients, the works.
The sad reality is that Mozilla once did all these things, but lack of funding meant that many efforts were eventually discontinued. As great as Mozilla is, they too are effectively 'captured' due to their reliance on Google funding. Firefox is the only browser that doesn't support installing PWAs, which is unbelievable, and almost certainly a move made to please Google.
How would you create a Mozilla-type (and presumably size) organisation, without getting into the same funding-related issues? From my perspective, the FOSS funding does not scale with the effort required, unless a for-profit funds it. Government grants are also used, but they cannot be viewed as a steady source of income.
Mozilla pays executives highly while cutting programming jobs.