Matrix proponents would do well to learn from what is happening to Firefox and Mozilla.
Element do 90% of the development in the Matrix ecosystem - including the only server that can run at scale (I wont say "work") and the only homeserver designed to replace it (not production ready).
If Element were to come on hard times (as they have in the past, with near disastrous results), Matrix will simply fold.
@kline What do you suggest as alternative for a potentially struggling company? No company?
So I have seen tons of really brilliant projects that were abandoned simply because the developer wasn't able to continue working like a slave to satisfy continuous stream of demands from bastard users who didn't give a fuck to even say "thanks", not to mention donate $2 pm to a project they use and benefit from on daily basis.
Therefore, whenever I see a project I use and like and don't want it to disappear, I just start donating to it, using any means available.
@kravietz @anornymorse @arjen I think what would be better is to build a community of developers who can scratch their own itch and spread the load of bastard users.
Predicating your project on getting big enough to make cash quick is a bad strategy.
But my whole point is *not* about making profit.
People are motivated by different things, some like the community that forms around a project, some like the experience and can't do community. You can't tell them "oh just build a community".
Some project do commercialize and close their code completely, usually as a desperate, last resort when their work is being used to make profit by bastard companies, as it happened with Grsecurity or Nessus for example.
