This brings up a good point. The two companies I've worked for have used a ton of open source software and have contributed nothing back. It kind of disgusts me. Am I wrong to feel that way?
Were they actively making changes to the project and running custom builds? If not then they just had nothing to contribute to the project and there is certainly nothing to feel disgusted about.
Even if they were making local changes, I personally couldn't fault them, really; they're playing by the rules.
If they want to give up the intangible benefits they would get from sharing those changes (at least the non-business-strategic ones), that's disheartening, but I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.
You're not wrong to feel that way. It is not strictly required to contribute back to the community when using F/OSS products - but doing so is the best thing to do by a wide margin. It's okay to feel uncomfortable when the company you work for is being a free rider.
