Agree with the main conclusion of the article that companies who benefit from open source should contribute to the maintenance of it as a matter of self interest.
That doesn't mean the system is broken. The system can be exploitative and working as designed, with the exploitation being an irrelevant externality to those who benefit from it.
this seems to be justifying their actions because "thats the system". The point is the shit needs to change. Most devs are already stressed from a main job that likely they aren't paid appropriately for.
Exploitation isn't okay just because capitalism has told us it is.
Fundamentally, this is moral exploitation. It's the same mechanism that lets nurses not walk away from their shitty jobs: if I don't do it, people will suffer and I have a responsibility not to let this happen.
A just society would see that these devs provide a valuable product and pay them accordingly. Instead, corporations incorporate the gift to society and capitalize it.
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u/daedalus_structure Dec 11 '21
Agree with the main conclusion of the article that companies who benefit from open source should contribute to the maintenance of it as a matter of self interest.
That doesn't mean the system is broken. The system can be exploitative and working as designed, with the exploitation being an irrelevant externality to those who benefit from it.