The Register explores a growing problem faced by OSS maintainers (and, by extension, OSS users) as the prevalence of OSS in the software supply chain increases:

The experience of feeling under pressure, isolated and faced with a growing pile of work while receiving the occasional unpleasant message from an entitled user demanding their issue be dealt with now or that a contribution merged be immediately is far too common.

Sophia Vargas, an analyst and researcher for open source programs and operations at Google, told The Register that “Absolutely” maintainers were under pressure. Vargas added that the pressure was “both systematically and at the individual community level.

“Many participants in open source feel that open source projects are chronically undersupported, especially given the growing appetite for using open source software.

“This feeling is also reflected in the numbers: many projects, even those deemed ‘critical infrastructure’ are supported by very few people (often with one person doing most of the work), many maintainers have considered quitting, and many projects may not be maintained at all.”

Challenges like these present opportunities for OSS to become COSS.