The wrench analogy doesn't work because when downloading a copy of the software, you don't make the original vanish. A copy costs nothing. There are also costs associated to software maintenance that don't apply to the wrench. Software has its own characteristics.
But I think I get the essence of your remark, and that would be that work needs to be paid. I mostly agree (I agree "enough" to carry on anyway), more on that later.
> Unfortunately most business models around free software are ads and user profiling. Rest is just noise.
That's unfortunate but not an inevitability. You don't need to rely on ads for revenue. It's not because many businesses decided that it's okay to spy on their users and steal their time and attention that you are forced to do the same.
The projects I mentioned don't make money through ads. Other big projects are like that as well. WordPress and Nextcloud for instance both have different business models that don't rely on ads. I work for XWiki SAS, we also don't rely on ads. There are ways. You can even sell "licenses" for open source software. We do that (and it's not open core), although I think you complained more about the gratis aspect than the open source aspect. We also make money with consulting, support and hosting.
> don't pretend that REST client is charity or fight for freedom or something
I don't see what you mean. If I'm to rely on some tool, I want to be able to control it and proprietary software doesn't allow me this. So I won't use a rest client if it's proprietary. And I wish this also for my users.
But I think I get the essence of your remark, and that would be that work needs to be paid. I mostly agree (I agree "enough" to carry on anyway), more on that later.
> Unfortunately most business models around free software are ads and user profiling. Rest is just noise.
That's unfortunate but not an inevitability. You don't need to rely on ads for revenue. It's not because many businesses decided that it's okay to spy on their users and steal their time and attention that you are forced to do the same.
The projects I mentioned don't make money through ads. Other big projects are like that as well. WordPress and Nextcloud for instance both have different business models that don't rely on ads. I work for XWiki SAS, we also don't rely on ads. There are ways. You can even sell "licenses" for open source software. We do that (and it's not open core), although I think you complained more about the gratis aspect than the open source aspect. We also make money with consulting, support and hosting.
> don't pretend that REST client is charity or fight for freedom or something
I don't see what you mean. If I'm to rely on some tool, I want to be able to control it and proprietary software doesn't allow me this. So I won't use a rest client if it's proprietary. And I wish this also for my users.