Yeah, being aware of that history is why I said “it’s weird” 
I’m also aware that she has strongly opted out of doing that again.
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I am a proponent of FOSS, but I do see that there are limitations on applying the same ideas to hardware. You can copy and distribute hundreds of copies of software for effectively no cost, but while you probably could manufacture hardware, and sell it at cost price, nobody wants to do that.
Of course FOSS is more about the freedom, than the price, but even Prusa blogs about wanting to make limitations on what competitors should have the freedom to do: https://blog.prusa3d.com/the-state-of-open-source-in-3d-printing-in-2023_76659/
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Without open hardware and open source software being key in 3d printers for years, we wouldn’t have anywhere near the innovations we’ve seen so far. And we continue to see innovations; I haven’t seen any evidence that the rate of innovation is slowing down. Selling at cost is, I think, a red herring; We definitely see open designs still being sold at a profit. I think we have a lot of evidence in software that patent minefields slow down innovation rather than speed it up.
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Thank you for your work on UGS. Although I only use it for my home made pin plotter toy, it does work well.
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It seems that Sanlander now feels he is not making enough money for his creative effort, and giving and teaching does not give him contentment anymore (did it ever?). I saw a couple of his videos but was not impressed enough to subscribe.
However I agree with the general feeling of wveryone contributing to this post. I am constantly amazed by the generosity of many makers and creators “out there”. I don’t think that we need to fear for opensource…
I’m probably not typical, I don’t know - but if I download and later find that a bit of software is useful and continue to use it I will always “donate” to the creator in accordance with value and ability.
Here is a weird thing: I use an email client called BetterBird - It’s more or less based on Thunderbird, but its got a few added features that I really like and use daily. Knowing that the Betterbird development team pretty much uses all of Thunderbird with a few modifications, I posted in the Thunderbird Wiki asking who should I send my donation to and if both - what should the split be? A Thunderbird development team member replied suggesting that I should send 100% of my donation to Betterbird, because the Thunderbird team had enough in the bank to fund development for quite some time.
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