Many companies pay developers to work on Open Source projects But obviously the money from software companies runs out eventually, if they're giving their software away or being replaced by those that do. The free software guys say they plan on making their money for "support". Who in the heck wants to have to pay for software support? Or be using software that needs it?
You're being stupid, as per usual. You are assuming that it's only software companies that would contribute developers to an Open Source project, which is simply not true. Take a hypothetical example - banks often have large IT departments and a good number of developers. It makes sense for a bank for their developers to work on Open Source e-commerce software suites, as the bank doesn't have to assume all the costs of development or QA onto themselves. The software itself is a tool for their business, not the business itself - by embracing Open Source, they have just cut costs, and have subjected the software to a lot more eyes checking for bugs by putting the development, rather than by sticking to the proprietary model.
I don't expect such facts or such logic to move you off your worship of the throne of Bill, but this is actually what is happening. The Economist ran an article about this a couple of months ago.
Ivan