What alternatives do people have to monetize software in a more ethical way?

I particularly don’t understand the funding that some software receive. What they have to grant to receive those funds?

I also search for some type of monetization “model” better than donations, but more ethical than ads.

If it’s too much to explain I would be grateful for terms or books that I could search later.

  • *dust.sys@lemmy.worldEnglish
    20·
    2 days ago

    The slippery slope that projects taking this approach fall into boils down to ‘let’s put all our new features behind a business version and never add them to the community version until they become 2 totally different code bases’

    • HappinessPill@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
      1·
      1 day ago

      What about a modular software, a base version and the modules are paid ? It would maybe avoid ramification? And the user would have more freedom.