@littlerao

First up thanks for your work and making open-source a better place.

I know this very well from the world of sewing patterns. There you also have a wider variety of stuff you can buy. Mostly pdfs for print at home, sometimes even printed out on big paper for you.

But most people do also have videos for you to follow along how make the stuff they sell. So technically you could go and not buy the thing. But I obviously buy it when possible.

People need to sustain themselves and especially with the rise of AI it is more important than ever to support fellow human creators.

I have obviously "profited" from open source software. There is so much polished stuff just... given away, for free. It allowed to try many different things and aqquire new skills.

I am all for free sharing of knowledge. Youtube can be such a treasure to learn new things. But I also get why people try to sell stuff. Its kinda just a fact of life that one needs money.

And spending weeks and months on something to give away is not something everyone can do.

For STLs I think its also generally acceptable to take money. Time, effort and testing. Most simple things are offered for in that community as well.

It is kinda interesting to think how software is so much different to other stuff when it comes to paying though

There would certainly be upside and downside to making software paid as well. And be it just for maintainer themselves.

Getting money for the work may allow them to dedicate more time to the project, but also adds a pressure maybe to keep maintaining?

A free software surely is easier to drop.