A few days ago, a brand new account showed up to mess with my head.
This anonymous account didn’t just publish a post — it created a proposal, making sure the message was as visible as possible. Alongside it, the account shared a very interesting tool with the community.
Who is doing the printing?
The account states — and I believe them — that the goal of the tool isn’t to point fingers or start fights, but to invite us to reconsider our voting habits. I know I’m certainly making adjustments, and I hope others do too.
But that’s not where the story ends for me.
Looking at those numbers made me think about something deeper: how much money do we actually need to build something of substance?
I know this opinion is controversial, but I think many developers — and although I don’t call myself one, I think I’m allowed to opine — have lost the plot a bit.
I need to go on a tangent, and I apologize for that, but it’s the best way I know how to explain what I mean.
To disrupt
As some of you know, I love Linux.
I’ve been a big advocate for open-source software since my younger years, and I genuinely believe it’s one of the few things that can still save humanity. That’s not an exaggeration.
Over the years, I’ve often wondered how the people working on legacy open-source projects actually make a living. It’s a fair question.
If the software is free — if I can go to Linux Mint’s website and download a perfectly working ISO for zero dollars — how do the developers buy their bread?
In one word: donations.
Naturally, that made me assume they must be receiving millions every year. After all, we’re talking about an operating system used by an estimated five million people worldwide.
But I was wrong. Very wrong.
Linux Mint, unlike many other distros, is remarkably transparent about its budget. Their monthly income can sometimes be as low as $5,000, and sometimes as high as $15,000.
A long way from the millions I had imagined.
The final boss
When it comes to development, the final boss — the kaiju most people will never defeat — is building an operating system.
The complexity of a system of that magnitude requires skills I can only dream of possessing. And yet, the developers — these heroes without capes, slayers of dragons — aren’t booking safari cruises every summer.
So where am I going with this?
This is an invitation to refocus.
Here on Hive, we have incredible talent. No doubt about it. But sometimes that talent refuses to contribute unless it’s paid $50+ an hour.
And I have to ask, sincerely: what happened to the plot?
I thought we wanted to build a better world. A better system. I thought being disruptive — taking power back from monopolies — was part of the reward too.
Of course, I can’t change minds. I’m certainly not going to change the mind of a talented developer who takes their website down the moment a proposal stops being funded.
But I suspect — deep inside — they understand my words with absolute clarity.
-MenO
Youtube Mirror:
▶️ 3Speak