How Do Creator’s Of Open Source Software Make Money?

For the most part, developers of open source software have day jobs or work as freelancers apart from their open source projects.
Open source projects are community-driven. They have many contributors who take pieces or elements of a program and develop them in their spare time. It really is for the most part voluntary and with the idea of contributing to the greater good. There is a sense of bettering the computing experience for other people, who in turn develop other kinds of open source projects. Another upside is creating competition against the bigger companies and to spur innovation in general. So really, it is more about idealism than it is about income. Some do ask for contributions and donations, but that’s simply for defraying costs rather than building profits. Plus open source development helps emerging developers build their experience. Think of it something like a club made of hobbyists. The popularity of a given open source application is usually the greatest reward some will ever see. And it can sometimes lead to a career in a more prestigious capacity as an employee for Google or Microsoft.
So, no. Open source developers don’t make much or any money from their creations. It’s more for fun, experience, community ideals and giving big corporations a run for their money.

I think the answer is: It depends.
Some open source developers make money selling consulting and customization services.
Others like Google provide their software for free in order to drive traffic to their own services and build loyalty.
Some open source developers offer one version as open source and a more fully functioning version for a price.
Still others provide open source software without any hope of financial gain.
Others will sell ad-ons and such.
Still others do it because they need to functionality and it is a way to build a community of contributing software developers without having to pay them.