As for investing into opensource, Dropbox is trying to do that when possible, for example we (along with Automattic) did sponsor HTTP/2 development in Nginx.
- Open-Core::: Features are not added to core, as they want people to upgrade.
- Consulting::: Ease of use is ignored, as if it's too easy people won't need consultants.
- Sponsoring Goals::: Software is almost held at ransom, until goals are reached.
The best way to help open-source software is to donate or contribute code... if you're trying to maximise profits, then just make it propitiatory
Some problems can only be made so easy. Some problems require custom work. Sometimes you need paid support not because the product is low-quality but because you need to know that you can call someone at 3am because your service is down. There are lots of reasons to have consulting.
> - Sponsoring Goals::: Software is almost held at ransom, until goals are reached.
You're assuming the work would get done one way or another. Sometimes people have many other things they could be doing, and they need to justify spending more time on a project than they already do. Or sometimes, people have a fixed amount of time but they're happy to prioritize things people want and will pay for.
(No argument about open-core; that definitely has problems.)
Other great approaches include hosting the software as a service. Depending on the nature of a project, many people may want a service whose primary value proposition is "we'll host this for you so you don't have to maintain and administrate it".
Paid support surely is, as you say, about calling someone at 3am and having them look into an incident.
From my experience, that's not about helping you get the most out of the product, and a hand in tailoring it to your needs - that's the consulting part, and is usually paid for separately (and at much higher rates).
I totally disagree. Red Hat patches/maintains things regardless of whether people pay for it. Everything is always available open source. There are numerous derivatives of RHEL that get these for example.
The money you pay for Red Hat stuff is for support. There are always free-as-in-speech and free-as-in-beer alternatives of red hat products.