I don't see the OSS world as transactional. For example, I contribute some modest OSS projects for free without expectation of direct compensation. Lots of other people do similar things. That's what makes OSS work.
Some of that stuff is supported by big corporations that employ the people that work on those things and have a financial interest in making sure those things continue to exist. As a result, I get to stand on the shoulders of giants. That extends to things like Linux, databases and other middleware, frameworks and libraries, and lots and lots of developer tools.
I pay for plenty of SAAS stuff when I need to or when it adds value. Just not for Intellij.
In most profession, you don’t have a continuous flow of new tools to evaluate if they worth integrating in your workflow, which is already heavily time costly, and tools rarely break overnight due to some remote ecosystemic reason or cease to work due to license expiration/change/whatever.
How enthusiast are most professional to throw money at "smart" tools, hmm?
I would pay for tooling, but most of them is now pure grift. Even Jetbrains has gone the anticonsumer route with their focus on AI (plugins enabled by default).
The money has to come from somewhere, otherwise it is yet another doom and gloom of a FOSS project being acquired by a big corp, or the author moving on into proprietary software, donations hardly put food on the table outside rockstar level projects.
Some of that stuff is supported by big corporations that employ the people that work on those things and have a financial interest in making sure those things continue to exist. As a result, I get to stand on the shoulders of giants. That extends to things like Linux, databases and other middleware, frameworks and libraries, and lots and lots of developer tools.
I pay for plenty of SAAS stuff when I need to or when it adds value. Just not for Intellij.