At a higher level: In my view, when it comes to open source software, beer-free is a part of libre-free.
If you can support the open source projects you use and want to stick around, that'd be good. At a shallow level, it will make them better.
But if you ask an open source maintainer whether a cash-strapped college student or a third-world citizen should avoid using their software because they their donation money could be used for a different purpose..? I hope the answer is no. In fact, I hope the answer extends to "Bill Gates is welcome to use my code without compensating me. Obviously it'd be nice if he did, though."
I'm willing to bet an imaginary nickel that the OSS devs I know would actually be pretty surprised if they received anything at all.
If you can support the open source projects you use and want to stick around, that'd be good. At a shallow level, it will make them better.
But if you ask an open source maintainer whether a cash-strapped college student or a third-world citizen should avoid using their software because they their donation money could be used for a different purpose..? I hope the answer is no. In fact, I hope the answer extends to "Bill Gates is welcome to use my code without compensating me. Obviously it'd be nice if he did, though."
I'm willing to bet an imaginary nickel that the OSS devs I know would actually be pretty surprised if they received anything at all.