There are a lot of posts from prominent open source maintainers about this topic and from a far away, I always wonder if the solution is actually simpler than they want to admit: treat the project like a real business.

`curl` (and similarly important projects) have a tremendous leverage with the big tech and I don't see any of them on curl's sponsors page. Why not?

The sales pitch (and yes, treating the project like a business implies sales) would be simple: we are curl, you depend on us, pay us 1M/anually and with that money we'll hire the experts that we need to continue the development and support of the project. Raise a few millions (recurring) and secure the project's financial stability. Pay yourself a respectable salary, hire people. If "the big tech" refuses, publicly call them out on it. Connect with other prominent projects and act together. The internet depends on you, you should be awarded.

I have a tremendous respect for curl as a project and Daniel as a person (based on his writtings, never met him) and I know it's easy to comment out the stuff on the internet from a safe distance, but I still wonder if things could be actually different.