Do Profitable Software Companies Contribute to the FOSS They Rely On?

One of the common questions in the software development community is whether software companies that gain high profits from the products they build should pay for the technology stacks they rely on, especially when these technology stacks are distributed for free under free/open source software (FOSS) licenses.

Legal Obligations

By the very nature of FOSS, users are not obligated to pay. Therefore, the 'should' or 'does' the company pay for the technology stack does not hold in a legal sense. However, it is a different story in moral terms, where opinions vary widely among individuals.

Moral Considerations

Some people might argue that companies should contribute back to the FOSS communities as a form of goodwill and ethical responsibility, despite not being legally required to do so. It is also true that not all people, especially in certain regions, might not comply with the license terms effectively. However, many large companies do make contributions back to FOSS, either through monetary donations or code contributions.

Recent Trends in FOSS Contributions

Recent trends show an increasing trend of direct monetary support to FOSS projects. For instance, companies like Smartisan, Huawei, Google, and IBM have either donated or committed to donate money to key open-source projects.

Major Contributions

Tech giants such as Google, Facebook, and Intel have been particularly friendly to FOSS, even though they are not themselves FOSS companies like Red Hat. Notably, they contribute code, funding, and human resources to FOSS communities.

Methods of Contribution

There are several ways technology companies contribute to FOSS. Here are some common methods:

Direct Monetary Support

Contributing money to the funds of non-profit FOSS foundations such as the Apache Software Foundation or the Eclipse Foundation.

Infrastructure Support

Assisting with the infrastructure needs of FOSS projects, which can include hosting, testing, and other support services.

Employee Contributions

Allowing employees to work on important open-source projects during company time. Companies can even hire key contributors to a project specifically to support it.
One notable example is Facebook, which made HHVM and Hack free, thereby giving back to the community directly and supporting Zend indirectly.

Conclusion

While it may be argued that profitable software companies should contribute back to the FOSS they rely on, it is not legally mandatory. However, the ethical argument for doing so is strong, and recent trends show that many companies are indeed contributing back through various means. Whether through direct monetary support, code contributions, or by allowing their employees to work on FOSS projects, these contributions significantly impact the health and longevity of software ecosystems.