There are quite a few large companies like Red Hat who do very well by selling services to clients.
You are complaining because people contribute their type to projects? Build a better product or more functionality.
The modern-day version of "Give away the razors, sell the blades." "Give away the software, sell the services."
put out a product in a new category, and watch people rage about having to pay anything for it (even as low as $10 is to much for these people). after that, expect to see a free solution pop up and promoted. sloppier and with less features, but free.
the VAST majority of free software is hacked crap. some projects are written well, but the majority isn’t.
as for red hat, they made the majority of their cash supporting a product they never developed (yes, I know they are now developing and submitting... thereby protecting their position).
if you were in the industry in the 80s and 90s, you’ll remember the articles about how the big corporations fear the garage software developer. in response, large corporations embraced the free software movement... raising the barrier to entry for small developers