Comment by menaerus
> They serve to show why random OSS projects are indistinguishable from corruption. > In other words how do I choose which projects to support? How do I detect when said support is above board or when there are other factors?
Same argument can be applied to closed-source software. For example, how do you decide which vendor is your company going to select for their internal or external business. Why did you choose Cisco security solution over Fortinet or whatever other alternative there is? Is it corruption in terms of "I know this guy in Cisco" or is it "their solution is the most powerful"? Essentially, as you say, it is indistinguishable. I don't see how this is any different than to select some FOSS project to support if it generates your company/product a value.
Reason why companies aren't paying for FOSS is simply because they don't have to. And also there's no business on the other side to buy something back from you which is many times the case with B2B deals.
>> For example, how do you decide which vendor is your company going to select for their internal or external business.
Selecting software (commercial or OSS) is no problem. And OSS bring free is a plus in that column.
Paying for commercial software is easy. They give us an invoice, and we pay it. OSS has donated button on a web site. There is absolutely no motivation to click it, and indeed clicking it leads to all kinds of extra hassle and work.
OSS has no business model. That makes it hard for companies that are used to business.