The Economics of Open Source

Open source software powers the modern internet. Linux runs most servers. Apache and nginx serve most web pages. PostgreSQL, MySQL, and Redis store most data. Yet the people who maintain this critical infrastructure are often unpaid volunteers working in their spare time.

This creates a paradox: companies worth billions depend on software maintained by individuals who struggle to pay rent. The xz Utils incident in 2024 demonstrated how a single burned-out maintainer can become a supply chain vulnerability for the entire internet.

We need sustainable funding models for open source. GitHub Sponsors, Open Collective, and Tidelift are steps in the right direction, but they are not enough. Until we solve the economics of open source, we are building our digital infrastructure on volunteer labor and hoping for the best.