> To be clear, I’m talking about open-source projects that compete with popular paid solutions.
[ ... ]
> Excluding non-profit projects that are sponsored by donations or parent organizations, a typical open-source business needs profit to be the ultimate north star.
So, I think you've somewhat misinterpreted the space the author thinks they are referring to.
Ardour is a small project in terms of man-power - 2 full time paid developers, other individuals paid for media and other work, various commercial collaborations along the way, certainly dreaming of being able to use more paid development hours. We absolutely compete with at least a dozen popular paid solutions, with at least 3 on Linux alone.
The main reasons I think this article feels so unrelatable to me is (a) it's strange focus on profit (b) it's web/SaaS centric nature (c) it's B2B centric nature. It just doesn't have much to say about the "space" of writing native/desktop applications for individuals involved in creation workflows, free of VC influence.