There is no such thing as completely strings-free patronage, and the more-formalized the patronage is, the thicker the strings.
If nothing else, there is the internal drive to "be a good team player" and not hurt your friends' feelings.
There is no such thing as completely strings-free patronage, and the more-formalized the patronage is, the thicker the strings.
If nothing else, there is the internal drive to "be a good team player" and not hurt your friends' feelings.
We have decided to make that explicit by defining ourselves as a project team, with members.
Now people have at least two teams to choose from, with different structures and financing models, and hopefully more teams will spring up, so that developers have choices and teams have to compete for developers.