[zozbot234]

Most larger companies would probably find it way easier and more sensible to contract with some outside consultancy to work on these issues than just posting a random bounty, even if the latter might potentially be cheaper. See Google Summer of Code projects for a very practical example of how "just pay randos to work on issue X for cheap" can quite often end up in failure.

[BikiniPrince]

Yes, when my org needed a very specific feature from an open source project the company reached out to the authors. I don’t know the terms, but they dropped a chunk of cash. No strings either on the new feature and everyone benefited in the end.

[Avamander]

> See Google Summer of Code projects for a very practical example of how "just pay randos to work on issue X for cheap" can quite often end up in failure.

That potential for failure is there for any "subcontractors". I wonder if anyone has any stats on this.