programmers

Some people worry that free software/open source movement leads to the developers being a new "workers" class exploited by the free software companies. In the time when big companies such as RedHat, Sun, HP, Novell etc. are proving how economically viable open source business model can be, some people wonder what's up with "poor" free software programmers and developers who happily contribute their work and source codes to the community for the sake of freedom and bettering the whole society without getting anything in return, economically speaking.
My goal with this article is to define the reasons and motivations for which programmers develop free software and determine if the worry of them becoming the new exploited class of the IT age is well founded