I don't understand where this sentiment is coming from lately? All of a sudden there are people who seem shocked that corporations are profiting off of Open Source software, even though nobody in the community has ever had a problem with it.
I would argue that in many cases, they aren't even making money off of open source directly. Like, people aren't paying Amazon for MongoDB, they're paying someone for the infrastructure necessary to run MongoDB.
They need many millions of lines of open source just to serve a html page... from kernel to Firefox and every bit of hardware between. Take away the open source and they need billions in proprietary software licenses. Take away the open source and Facebook didn't get written with PHP and MySQL. Take away the open source and Amazon has to license Oracle and MSSQL and Windows instead of profiting off MongoDB and PostgreSQL.
Amazon are still actively migrating away from Oracle because it "doesn't scale", what they mean is proprietary software bills per CPU core or server so it scales proportionately to Amazon's own profits. This is just one way FAANG leverages open source to save hundreds of millions of dollars a year in their own operations. Google forked MySQL for their advertising empire instead of licensing MSSQL or Oracle.
I do not believe you could even count the full extent they are dependent on open source without ripping it all out and watching them crumble. What's it worth to FB when every job candidate is highly proficient in React? Without open source culture driving self-education, without open source community in place to embrace React, React needs a 2 - 3 month training course for all newly-hired engineers!
This is true. Amazon needs tons of code just to get to the point of being able to even run Apache or nginx at all, and all that code written by contributors for free. So is your argument that all of those developers, or, at least the Open Source projects should be compensated by Amazon for that effort?
If so, then that suggests that Apache and nginx owe something to Linux, GNU, etc... as well. Sure, either can be run on alternative platforms but, let's be honest; they're usually run on Linux. One might even argue that neither Apache or nginx would exist had Linus not made Linux Open Source.
You bring up React. What's it worth to Facebook for all those engineers proficient in React? Well, React was created by developers who work/worked for Facebook so it seems to me the question is really, what's it worth all of us who might use React? Facebook sponsored it and has easily spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on engineer salaries, equipment for them, office space, etc... By your logic, all the developers not working for Facebook who use React should compensate Facebook for their generosity. See how absurd this starts to become?
This is all a false dichotomy. To suggest these companies owe the open source community is wrong. No open source developer I've ever met (and I've been in this community for over 20 years) has EVER said they expected some kind of compensation. That's not what Open Source is about.
I'm not saying they owe open source. I'm saying they leverage an absolute ton of open source, they are deeply dependent on it. All their communication, infrastructure, software and services and processes are dependent upon open source.
If supporting open source with money is paying it forward, I think React & other endeavors could be called paying it sideways. FAANG get legal tender fit for any purpose, hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue, billions saved not licensing proprietary software, and what proportionately little code they give back is not legal tender for any purpose.
But again I'm not saying they owe open source. I'm saying they could fund it many times over and couldn't exist without it. One day they will pay it forward just by paying fair taxes on their massive fortunes. Today they don't even do that much.
Back in the '90s, people used to say "hackers build FOSS to scratch an itch, not for the money" and "it's both free as in speech and free as in beer" and FOSS as a movement flourished.
Now in the '10s, the johnny-come-latelies and MBAs are thinking "We want the geek cred and goodwill for being open source but OMG look at all the sweet, sweet dollars sloshing around; we want a piece of the pie too". Thus, you get FOSS-wannabe licenses like open core and shared source that try to have it both ways.
