> Morally, the only fault I can say on the maintainer's behavior is a lack of transparency.
Totally agree with that. The maintainer seems to have made very little effort to get compensated for his work. It would surely be nice if some company stepped-up and offered to sponsor the development of the project. But it's also kind of childish to scheme and hold grudges for not getting something you never bothered asking for.
Other open-source developers have been in a similar position in the past, but the handling of the situation was much more transparent and considerate. Off the top of my head, I can remember the example of Synergy [1]. When the developer needed support, he announced well in advance the changes to the model of development. And actually put the time to spin-up a company around the project, and offer ways for normal users to support development.
Totally agree with that. The maintainer seems to have made very little effort to get compensated for his work. It would surely be nice if some company stepped-up and offered to sponsor the development of the project. But it's also kind of childish to scheme and hold grudges for not getting something you never bothered asking for.
Other open-source developers have been in a similar position in the past, but the handling of the situation was much more transparent and considerate. Off the top of my head, I can remember the example of Synergy [1]. When the developer needed support, he announced well in advance the changes to the model of development. And actually put the time to spin-up a company around the project, and offer ways for normal users to support development.
[1] https://symless.com/synergy