The Trap of Permanent Mediocrity

There is a cultural phenomenon of Permanent Mediocrity Fallacy, driven by short term human thinking - which is responsible for much of open source software remaining mediocre for a long time or dying, and not dominating the space as has been demonstrated by products such as Linux, Wordpress, Blender, and others - which have become the respected industry standards with the highest market share in their respective areas.

In the Fallacy, a user has a choice between an open source or a free, proprietary product. This is not considering a paid proprietary product, which already has a gate to it in terms of price.

A person will normally choose the 'better' product for their immediate need.

This is natural, but it has a long-term negative effect. The free product is neglected, never improves. The downside is expensive proprietary sofware that everyone in the future must rely on.

So: either use and support open source, and the price goes down for everyone in the future - or the alternative is an apocalyptic hellscape. There are many examples where freeware disappears, or starts charging.

To go further - commission the development of open source software. See article [1]

Or more radically - you can 'distribute free (libre) software for a fee' [2]. We suggest you find ways to monetize your specific way of distributing free software or design, like OSE does - by providing meaningful products or services.