Open-source code is a huge boon startups and the internet at large — it allows for apps and services that would take months or even years of coding to spring up without much extra work. But there’s also a distinct problem with open source: It doesn’t pay.
Khan Academy, the online learning platform that has been active in the open-source community and released its code through GitHub, is now trying to bring financial as well as technological support to developers that contribute their services for free.