[anotherhue]

You're not wrong, but if we've all collectively decided that companies should be patrons then I think we've made a mistake.

These people are only one reorg away from losing their income, Mr. lz4/zstd should be able to focus on his work without such fears, so great is his contribution to our field.

[rektide]

Yeah it's wildly off the wall how hard it is for enoromously valuable critical people doing amazing things to get support for themselves & their work.

That the direct-corporate-patronage/semi-employeeship model is so prevailing is a sign of brokenness. We need more, collectively, to have a health of our technical ecosystem.

Having these corps willing to hire great folk & have them keep hacking is still often a good option, often. "Create more vue than you capture" is easy to back/do when it's so clear who is out there creating mad value.