“in some cases” yeah you’re talking about a tiny percentage here, just the ones at the top. Why? Why do some sports players get paid so much? Why do some movie stars get paid so much? Society places incredibly high value on appearances. You’re free to disagree on a personal level (as do I, the beauty culture is horrendous) but it’s important to realize the reality of how most people think.

As for the devs, people are often broke. Years ago, the reason I first learned about open source was looking for free alternatives to word, when I found libreoffice. I had absolutely no money to spare at the time. These days, I’m in the hole again. But I give when I’m able. I try to give proportionally to my use of whatever it is, that feels fair. I make bug reports with needed relevant info, I’m learning c++ for myself but also to one day make contributions of my own.

Open source being discovered as a no-cost alternative to paid software makes it difficult to fet funding, even though that’s a pillar of what makes it so great. Bit of a paradox.