Open Source Is Not Open Bar

“Good code is free. Great code costs blood, sweat, and ramen noodles.” – Definitely Not Linus Torvalds

Open source is incredible. It powers everything from your favorite apps to entire industries. But here’s the catch: too many people treat it like a damn free-for-all. Download the code, complain about bugs, and move on. Contribution? Nah. Gratitude? Who’s got time for that?

Here’s the reality: open source is not an open bar. You don’t get to chug down the hard work of others without giving back. And maintainers? They’re not here to babysit your feature requests. They have priorities, roadmaps, and actual lives. If you don’t like it, fork it. That’s literally the point.

And let’s talk about “free.” Yeah, you can download it for free, but creating it sure as hell isn’t. Developers sink endless hours into these projects, often unpaid, while Big Tech makes billions off their work. The economics? Absolutely f***ed.

graph LR
A[Open Source] --> B[Big Tech Profits]
A --> C[Creators Get Burnt Out]
B --> D
C --> D[Unfair System]

So what’s the fix? First, stop freeloading. If you use open source, contribute—code, cash, feedback, anything. Second, we need systems that actually reward creators. At Gno.land, we’re building “proof of contributions” to make sure effort gets recognized. Open source needs sustainability, not just passion projects.

Open source isn’t just code. It’s community. It’s people. If you want it to survive, stop taking and start giving. Because free software? It only works when people give a damn.