[cesarb]

> Never understood why our industry seems unique in our willingness to do unpaid work for giant corps. Your compression library isn't saving the world, it's making it easier for amazon to save a few bucks.

The work was not being done "for giant corps"; it was being done for everyone, and giant corps just happen to be a part of "everyone", together with small corps, individual people, government, and so on.

> You have the right to be paid for your time. It's valuable.

When you think of free software contributions as "volunteer labor" instead of just a hobby, it makes more sense. Yes, my time is valuable; when I'm working on free software, I'm choosing to use this valuable time to contribute to the whole world, without asking for anything in return.

[aulin]

I'd say you're contributing back. You don't ask anything in return because you live in a ecosystem built on the contributions of everyone, you're just doing your part.

[squigz]

Weird that this is a concept people struggle to understand...