>Surprising to see this (not at all uncommon with OSS folks) preference for "group o' dudes" over "group o' dudes with enough money not to need to take day jobs and a tangible motivation to work hard on this particular product."
From the other side it is a "group o' dudes who freely share" becoming a "group o' dudes who allow a little bit of access but otherwise don't share". If you are big believer in sharing then it is sad they don't want to share anymore.
Sharing is only fair if it's a two-way exchange. How much code have most people contributed to Nginx? If they don't contribute code, then how about donating money? Oh hm... the donation page doesn't look so impressive.
From the other side it is a "group o' dudes who freely share" becoming a "group o' dudes who allow a little bit of access but otherwise don't share". If you are big believer in sharing then it is sad they don't want to share anymore.