I like Google's Summer of Code program http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Summer_of_Code . If you can get programmers writing open-source code when they're still students, a fair number of them might continue to contribute to open source over their career.
I really like Gabriel's idea too. Donations to open-source (or groups like the EFF) are great for the net.
And a few of the students even donate all the money they get from Google Summer of Code program. Atleast one of my friend did this - http://www.python.org/psf/donations/ [ #2 Shashwat Anand ]
Also, a fair number of whole projects take the organization donation and donate that to organizations like the FSF and SFLC. (they get 500$ for each student they mentor)
> Also I'm not sure any big company 'completely depends' on FOSS. Yes it's an awesome thing, but big companies would survive just fine without it
The cost of non-FOSS is often a barrier to entry. I'd wager most companies would never exist without FOSS providing the initial setup. This is an assumption, but take DDG as an example with $20,000 in revenues. If they licensed all their servers from Microsoft, they might easily be in the red from that investment alone.
>Donating 10% of revenue away, wouldn't go down too well with average Joes pension scheme.
Presumably then "average Joes pension scheme" can go elsewhere to try and achieve a better return. What you're saying is that companies can't be generous because they have to satisfy the lust of the owners for more and more money.
Basically some are happy to ride on the coattails of others who more than likely see the innate Kantian imperative in aiding FOSS that has benefited them (and hence their dependents) in no small part. If no one gives anything (time/money/resources) to FOSS then it will die out.
10% of revenue may well be too much but some reflection of the saving made (if any) would seem reasonable and likely to produce future benefits.
"In periods where we achieve profitability, we intend to donate 5% of our net income to charitable organizations, which will reduce our net income for those periods."
