Journal: Earning from Open Source?

There has been a lot of talk about the benefits of open source. So I thought I'd put in my 2 cents.

Even though open source is a great way to produce high quality software, it does not do anything financially for the programmer(s) who spent days, if not weeks or months writing the software. There has to be some compensation for the time put in by the coders.

I understand that giving to the community is a very charitable act, and it frees the community from being restricted to buying a closed source alternative. However, the programmer must be compensated. Now, people like Linus Torvalds and other major contributors to the open source community have made great contributions and are rightfully being recognized. However, what about the proverbial small fish?

I guess what I'm trying to say is, there has to be some way to reward the programmer who has spent time and effort contributing at no cost. Because more often than not, I don't see much hupla over the original writer of a code. Or, maybe I am mistaken.