Yeah, totally agree - no matter how much they do, their work is close to nil compared to what was accomplished because of GNU tools, Linux kernel work and Ubuntu specific improvements made over the past xx years before ElementaryOS.
It's like they are only in for the money, which does not sit very well with this kind of communities.
Lastly, concluding that asking money for your work (alongside providing free downloads) is akin to 'they are only in for the money' affirms my fears that I cannot even dream of living off of any open source software that I make.
It's wrong in the sense that they make it look they are making you pay for the OS, while they don't take care of the OS actually, and they don't give back money to those who make the OS in the first place which is the cornerstone of the cathedral.
It would be way more honest if they were simply selling the binary for Pantheon and charging only for that (close the a HTML5 template in that sense that it's separated from the base install).
I'm not against charging for your work, I'm against the attitude of entitlement they have as if they were responsible for the whole thing in the first place.
I think their work in providing a good UX for GNU\Linux operating systems is admirable and it's a very important step to really make something most would be happy to use.
I am not dismissing their work, I just find the attitude a little snobbish. Just like if you gift-wrap something and you take credit for everything that's inside. The attitude is just wrong.
For me personally, I did not see much more in Elementary than an OSX clone.
[1] https://mobile.twitter.com/danielfore/status/583810531766722...
Fine, that's his decision, but he does not need to make it others' fault to pursue his lifestyle.
Because saying that people who use FOSS software without paying are "cheating the system" is not harsh? You know, you often get the reaction that you deserve.