if YOU are not PAYING for it, YOU are the PRODUCT.
Yes, but hosting a commercial capacity OpenVPN service isn’t.
Linux is more a “pay what you want” model. Take Linux Mint and Ubuntu with their make a donation button. Various groups make it more or less obvious.
You can be a sponsor.
In addition to donation, or supporting through putting in time submitting bug fixes (if you have the skill set to make good code contributions), the likes of:
- Intel
- Microsoft
- AMD
- NVIDIA
- IBM
Have and do at contribute to some degree to the code base. There are also more Linux specific groups like:
- Fedora
- Redhat
- Canonical (Ubuntu)
Even Linux has had it’s spots, more specifically with Ubuntu actually, where they have attempted to build in monetization which quickly gets ripped out… because Linux is open source and you are free to edit absolutely everything about it.
Which is to say… Even though YOU might not pay for it… you can. And it is paid for in other ways.
However, more to the point - Linux, actually FOSS in general is the general exception to the rule “If it is free, you are the product” is pretty damn true. Though if you prefer a better wording:
“In the case that the profitability of developing a freely distributed product can not be easily ascertained it is a safe bet that YOU are the product being sold in exchange for use of the software”
And that is GENERALLY what is being referred to in the phrase.