> What I find truly bizarre is how many software engineers, who are aware of how much they earn and how long it really takes to make software, are so resistant to paying anything for tools that make their job easier and faster. It blows my mind.
We're not resistant to paying, we're resistant to rent-seeking. I would, and have, happily buy a piece of software I use regularly.
What I will not do is a pay a monthly fee in perpetuity for a piece of software that I cannot truly own, where features I need can be removed on a whim and where I am prohibited from adding features I want. I also find the massive amount of tracking and general disregard for privacy appalling, but that's a missive for another day.
The subscription model that's become predominant is a nightmare and is increasingly user-hostile. Why is it so surprising that a lot of folks don't like it?
So in summary, I will gladly pay for software when:
1. I can pay up front an actually own it
2. I can see the source code and modify it
3. It does not track or otherwise monitor me
None of these things are a big ask.
Maybe you are the exception but I find that 99.99% of the people who use the "it's open source so I can modify it" argument never so much as look at the code let alone consider making modifications.
JetBrains products have an open-core (IntelliJ [0]) that can look at and contribute to if you so desire.
Lastly you say "None of these things are a big ask.", you just want the world on a silver platter for no cost, sorry but that is a big ask, especially if you care at all about the quality of your tools. If you're happy building an IDE from the group up using something like vscode and dealing with 100's of plugins that do the same thing slightly differently then be my guest but most of your arguments fall flat IMHO. Providing an excellent product with constant updates is not "rent-seeking".