[Iftheshoefits]

> So many companies are making big bucks off Ruby, yet so little are willing to fork out a bit of money and time to make Ruby better. <

And why would/should they when there are quite literally dozens (or possibly hundreds or even thousands) of developers who will happily work on "making Ruby better" for no cost to said companies?

A large percentage of software developers will quite happily hack away at projects for nothing in return simply because they enjoy it (and would, quite incorrectly, claim that as compensation itself), in order to gain notoriety, boost their own ego, or any of a number of related reasons.