> If one altruistically decides to give to society then I'm unsure what outcomes one should expect from society? What's the game-theory here?
I’m not sure if you’re asking rhetorically, but answering your question literally speaking: none. If you’re giving altruistically then you should expect nothing back.
As you point out, many projects whose goal is more personal satisfaction than money-making do indeed generate tremendous value, and in some cases, lots of money too. It’s hard to quantify the value of open source but I would not be surprised if its value exceeded the value of commercial, closed source software.
I’m not sure if you’re asking rhetorically, but answering your question literally speaking: none. If you’re giving altruistically then you should expect nothing back.
As you point out, many projects whose goal is more personal satisfaction than money-making do indeed generate tremendous value, and in some cases, lots of money too. It’s hard to quantify the value of open source but I would not be surprised if its value exceeded the value of commercial, closed source software.