The 2024 Tidelift State of the Open Source Maintainer Report
The Open Source Security podcast has an episode discussing it.
It seems to me there is probably some selection bias and it over reports funding. Presumably developers interested in funding are more likely to find out about the survey and respond. Doesn’t seem very encouraging. What do you all think about it?
I agree with you that there is a selection bias in the report. As a developer that is full-time employed by Red Hat, I didn’t look into responding to the survey because I didn’t even know was out for me to respond to. Though I do track Tidelift and the work they do. Your post made me do a double take and read the report, thanks for that!
When you write “Doesn’t seem very encouraging.” What do you mean by that specifically? What in particular discourages you?
It’s just the same old story, a lot of free software developers feel underappreciated and not fairly compensated for the value they provide. I don’t know that that has gotten worse, it just hasn’t gotten better.
They’re doesn’t seem to be a one size fits all solution to the problem of funding, and it can take some work figure out a solution for any given project.