> I received a barrage of comments about working for free for a corporation that's making money off me
The problem is that the big tech companies aren't holding up their end of the traditional social contract.
I like to think of the wider open source community as one giant group project. Everyone contributes what they can, and in turn they can benefit from the work everyone else has done. The work you do goes towards making the world a better place. I have absolutely zero problem filing pull requests for bugs I encounter or submitting issues on OpenStreetMap, because I know that in return I get the Linux DE and reliable maps in other towns. If you want to make it political, it's a "from each according to their means, to each according to their needs".
The big tech companies operate completely differently. They see open source contributors primarily as a resource to exploit. Submit a single fix on Google Maps? You'll get zero credit, they'll never stop bothering you with popups about "making improvements", design their map around what is most profitable to show, and they will of course log your location history and sell it to the highest bidder. And they are getting filthy rich off of it as well.
I couldn't care less about getting monetary compensation for some odd work I do in my spare time, but there's no way in hell I'm going to do free labor for some millionaire who's going to reward me by spitting in my face.
Agreed: the opportunity to be taken to a rocky dirt road through swamp grounds on the outskirts of a small town in Greece is something I'd never get if not for Google Maps :)
(and many similar stories)
I only use Google Maps for their live traffic info, which they so nicely collect out of majority of Android users driving around. I'd love it if OSM apps could leverage that information for navigation too.
I'm guessing that happened 8 years ago and you're still mad at it. I also have an experience where their map data was sightly wrong and I got into an argument with my mother.
Exactly, 8 years ago last summer. Today it still happily recommends me take the "fastest" route through a street that's under construction for 2 months now in the biggest city in Serbia. A week ago it happily tried to take me through a closed off tunnel that is actually marked as "no traffic due to road construction" on the map (at least graphically, the metadata is likely not correct).
I am not holding a grudge at all: any map data is going to be out of date due to things happening live. Keeping it up to date in the entire world is a hard problem.
But they are not a panacea, and I frequently nudge it to better routes instead of the ones it recommends (I only watch out for live updates from them like a crash or new roadworks somewhere).
It doesn't even matter that it generates revenue, they could "give it away for free" and yet earn vast amounts of money with it just fine - but they never gave it away to anyone! They just let you use it "for free" right now, but could change their mind at a whim and stop, or even ban you specifically because they just feel like it. They're the only owners of data you contribute and it's not being given away, but strictly guarded.
Compare with OSM, which actually is being "given away for free" even though people still do monetize it. They just do it on the same terms as anyone else could.
The problem is that the big tech companies aren't holding up their end of the traditional social contract.
I like to think of the wider open source community as one giant group project. Everyone contributes what they can, and in turn they can benefit from the work everyone else has done. The work you do goes towards making the world a better place. I have absolutely zero problem filing pull requests for bugs I encounter or submitting issues on OpenStreetMap, because I know that in return I get the Linux DE and reliable maps in other towns. If you want to make it political, it's a "from each according to their means, to each according to their needs".
The big tech companies operate completely differently. They see open source contributors primarily as a resource to exploit. Submit a single fix on Google Maps? You'll get zero credit, they'll never stop bothering you with popups about "making improvements", design their map around what is most profitable to show, and they will of course log your location history and sell it to the highest bidder. And they are getting filthy rich off of it as well.
I couldn't care less about getting monetary compensation for some odd work I do in my spare time, but there's no way in hell I'm going to do free labor for some millionaire who's going to reward me by spitting in my face.