Nobody pays for FOSS, we can force them to

In 2013, the author first considered writing a blog post about open source economics. The post, which has been in progress since then, explores the dynamics of open source software, comparing it to hawks and doves from evolutionary biology. Hawks compete for resources, while doves share resources. The author finds a blend of both types, called an Evolutionarily Stable Strategy (ESS), to be the most stable.

This ESS indicates that open source software, which allows free usage and sharing, coexists with closed source software, which generates profit. Despite 60% of open source maintainers not being paid, the software ecosystem remains stable. The author uses the example of the xz compression library, which had a backdoor inserted over two years by a fake contributor who manipulated the unpaid maintainer.

The author argues that the current system of open source is stable and not breaking, but rather a machine that runs on human effort.