The Challenge of Open Source Funding
summary
Governments push open source but procurement buys almost nothing: 0.5% of German federal software funding goes to open source. The ecosystem relies on three failing procurement patterns — pay for a feature, contribute code, or buy from a vendor that doesn’t fund upstream — so projects lack recurring funding for maintenance, security and UX. Practical fixes include changing procurement rules, educating buyers of Matrix and Element users, and asking organisations to give 10% of savings to the project.
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