This is perhaps a sign that "dollar earned" is a very poor metric for impact. I find it very disappointing to see presentations of Cool Project X which have as their second or third slide Monetization, when I wish things could often be justified because they make the world epsilon better.
We do not live to breath, but we do have to breath to live. Profit is necessary to make your projects sustainable.
As you can see, as the article says often important inventions do not lead to a lot of immediate profit, but they have to make at least some money to survive.
