[taeric]

Indeed, I think we are fairly aligned.

I also think the math systems will lag for more than just donations. The work to make a good CAS is pretty intense. A lot like a good SAT system. Or really anything that is deep in the weeds of computer science. A lot of us are so far removed from the math that they focus on, that it can be mind bending to try and get back into it. (Indeed, for a lot like me, we were probably never really great at it, in the first place.)

Mathematica and Matlab are interesting to consider, as they are likely very well integrated into older workflow systems from the mainframe era. In particular, I'd expect the high end simulations for car and vehicle designs are much more integrated with those than anything open source. And a lot of that is largely availability of what they are integrating with. Most of us do not have the science labs and all of the equipment that goes with it.

Which, I think, is a bad feedback loop on this. For folks without those labs, Mathematica/Matlab are prohibitively expensive. For those with the labs, they are probably a rounding error. And there is no real path from the current equilibrium to one that can get it to more people. (The old path was free access in college. But that is becoming less of a thing in modern programming jobs.)