I did not get to contribute much to open source. I do think it is a privilege if you are able to make something you want to make and give it away to people who use it a lot. You get to put your name out there etc. And if you can really afford it and that is where your heart is, why not.

Maintaining commercial software is not a choice. It's done out of pure necessity. My company wants to get rid of me for what I think are bad reasons. Meaning I need to pay for a lawyer to fight them. Its just misery for people to treat each other like that. This is common in IT. It does not take much and it really does not make as much as portrayed (globally speaking, as open source is global). I used to like the company but clearly they don't give much of a damn about the law (not US law) or just being good employers. Literally all It managers are like this. All I've met anyways and I've been around. IT is a brutal world. But you will get a new job? Yes I will get a new job. Of course I will. I can't afford not to.

As far as I'm concerned open source maintainers are the lucky ones. They do not need to deal with management.

Ps: not that I begrudge them extra wages. I'm all for it.