I am going to regret joining this conversation, considering the not-very-constructive direction it took, anyway, here we go.
@jbohren I find your comments well-intentioned but a little naive. It believe that it is obvious that OSRF should prioritize its clients over the entire capital C “Community”.
And let me add (spoiler alert: cynic comments coming) that dozens of universities/companies/startups could (and maybe “ought to”) donate money to OSRF, but they will never consider doing that.
If you have been in robotics for more than 10 years, like me, you will recognize the incredible value that Willow Garage and later OSRF created for the entire community. But when something is free on the internet, it is easy to forget that.
I think that ORSF did and is doing a pretty good job trying to do what is “morally right” for its community, whatever that means.
I may disagree with some technical decisions related to ROS1 and I am very happy with the technical direction that ROS2 took and I will be happy to see Melodic become the last long-term release, in favour of ROS2.