BuddyPress.org

@whitbyglennk
There is no WP ethos of free software for all. With all the licensing discussions going on, most people have completely misunderstood what it was all about. Free (as in the GPL software license) only means that any further development of GPL software has to be published under the same license (if the software is being released) and that, once you have the software, you can do whatever you please with it. Free does not mean, though, that you can get access to this software without paying. It’s perfectly ok to charge for GPL software.

Most developers, who charge for a plugin or premium themes, still give back to the community by answering questions in forums or uploading other plugins and themes to the WP repository. For some plugins 50+ hours have been spent on development. That’s a lot of money and time right there, but people still expect not to pay anything.

I guess we’ll be seeing more and more paid plugins and themes crop up over the next year. It’s not a bad thing, it’ll give users more choice (there usually is a free alternative around somewhere) and if someone buys a plugin/theme, then afterwards you can expect great support, which does not always happen with a free plugin.

Just me 2 cents