The open source ecosystem was perfect before Microsoft tried to meddle, assimilate and destroy.

Microsoft has destroyed several open source projects by infiltrating them with mediocre MSFT employees.

Microsoft bought the GitHub monopoly in order to control open source further. Microsoft then stole and violated the copyright by training "AI" on the GitHub open source.

Microsoft finances influential open source organizations like OSI in order to make them more compliant and business friendly.

The useful projects are tiny compared to the entire open source stack. Paying for NPM repositories is a goodwill gesture and another power grab.