@david_ross and dependent on the surplus being there to start with (hence why FOSS was such a big thing in more optimistic late 90s/00s).

also a more cynical take is that devs build a FOSS project as something to get them hired for a paying gig (it does make me wonder though if a modern version of the nationalised telecom company could work?)>>

@david_ross e.g a part of Openreach, Deutsche Telekom, KPN etc provides *infrastructure only* (leaving the existing competitive market for services alone), but also takes on young techs (not necessarily all from uni) with reasonably secure job but also an amount of "slack time" which is used to contribute to FOSS s/w *and* h/w projects? >>

@vfrmedia I don't feel like there's a tried and tested model suitable for all. Tastes change, as do ethics surrounding purity of business models. It certainly makes sense for certain infrastructure models to be nationalised. This is often the (Innovate UK) model via Catapult|s. I'm often a little suspect at that model though as it's top > down

@david_ross just 10km away from me a whole BT research centre sits half empty (I've visited there a few times) and lots of young people who aren't "stupid" but struggle with academic study (I did when younger!) who *do* want to learn about tech but don't know "where to start".

(BT *does* try but they still have 1980s management thinking)

@vfrmedia 🤔

@david_ross
I wrote about this a while ago, from the "not compensated, toxic community" perspective around Minecraft modding:

https://jakimfett.com/status-report/epilogue-modding-minecraft/

@vfrmedia