A few days ago, a brand new account showed up to mess with my head.
This anonymous account didn’t just publish a post — it created a proposal, making sure the message was as visible as possible. Alongside it, the account shared a very interesting tool with the community.
The account states — and I believe them — that the goal of the tool isn’t to point fingers or start fights, but to invite us to reconsider our voting habits. I know I’m certainly making adjustments, and I hope others do too.
But that’s not where the story ends for me.
Looking at those numbers made me think about something deeper: how much money do we actually need to build something of substance?
I know this opinion is controversial, but I think many developers — and although I don’t call myself one, I think I’m allowed to opine — have lost the plot a bit.
I need to go on a tangent, and I apologize for that, but it’s the best way I know how to explain what I mean.
As some of you know, I love Linux.
I’ve been a big advocate for open-source software since my younger years, and I genuinely believe it’s one of the few things that can still save humanity. That’s not an exaggeration.
Over the years, I’ve often wondered how the people working on legacy open-source projects actually make a living. It’s a fair question.
If the software is free — if I can go to Linux Mint’s website and download a perfectly working ISO for zero dollars — how do the developers buy their bread?
Naturally, that made me assume they must be receiving millions every year. After all, we’re talking about an operating system used by an estimated five million people worldwide.
But I was wrong. Very wrong.
Linux Mint, unlike many other distros, is remarkably transparent about its budget. Their monthly income can sometimes be as low as $5,000, and sometimes as high as $15,000.
A long way from the millions I had imagined.
When it comes to development, the final boss — the kaiju most people will never defeat — is building an operating system.
The complexity of a system of that magnitude requires skills I can only dream of possessing. And yet, the developers — these heroes without capes, slayers of dragons — aren’t booking safari cruises every summer.
This is an invitation to refocus.
Here on Hive, we have incredible talent. No doubt about it. But sometimes that talent refuses to contribute unless it’s paid $50+ an hour.
And I have to ask, sincerely: what happened to the plot?
I thought we wanted to build a better world. A better system. I thought being disruptive — taking power back from monopolies — was part of the reward too.
Of course, I can’t change minds. I’m certainly not going to change the mind of a talented developer who takes their website down the moment a proposal stops being funded.
But I suspect — deep inside — they understand my words with absolute clarity.
-MenO
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