I get the feeling that many comments here, coming from developers who engage with FOSS consider the infusion of money to be a step in the right direction. Imagine like-minded people being able to contribute to a kickstarter targeting their itch, which some developer plans to scratch.
I think the picture the OP has is closer to the situation in scientific research, where you can replace kickstarter funding by grants from a funding agency. Many would claim that today's science research situation is broken, with scientists chasing grant money and low-hanging "high-impact" fruit, instead of taking risks working on the really challenging problems (large time-scales and investments) with uncertain results.
I think both perspectives have their place and it is important to have a balance between the two. In the case of research, one can argue that tenure is supposed offer security as opposed to an industry job, but it's also true that incentives are strongly tied to research productivity, and it's next to impossible to do research without research funding. If I understand the OP's perspective, he's okay with companies paying for developer time (kinda like tenure) as opposed to developers chasing grants. OP is drawing attention to the possible consequences of going overboard in this newfound enthusiasm/method for funding FOSS.
I think the picture the OP has is closer to the situation in scientific research, where you can replace kickstarter funding by grants from a funding agency. Many would claim that today's science research situation is broken, with scientists chasing grant money and low-hanging "high-impact" fruit, instead of taking risks working on the really challenging problems (large time-scales and investments) with uncertain results.
I think both perspectives have their place and it is important to have a balance between the two. In the case of research, one can argue that tenure is supposed offer security as opposed to an industry job, but it's also true that incentives are strongly tied to research productivity, and it's next to impossible to do research without research funding. If I understand the OP's perspective, he's okay with companies paying for developer time (kinda like tenure) as opposed to developers chasing grants. OP is drawing attention to the possible consequences of going overboard in this newfound enthusiasm/method for funding FOSS.