"Apparently two of the Linux distributions, KDE and Gnome..."

ROFL, as neither KDE nor Gnome is a distribution, but they are both graphical environments, which can be a part of a distribtion.

"haven't had major updates since 2002,"

As a long time KDE user (since SuSE 5.2 in October 1998) I can say that KDE has been frequently updated, and although it is true that the major number is still at "3", KDE has been frequently updated to wit:
3 April 2002: KDE 3.0 released
28 January 2003: KDE 3.1 released
3 February 2004: KDE 3.2 released
19 August 2004: KDE 3.3 released
16 March 2005: KDE 3.4 released
29 November 2005: KDE 3.5 released
31 January 2006: KDE 3.5.1 released
28 March 2006: KDE 3.5.2 released
31 May 2006: KDE 3.5.3 released
02 August 2006: KDE 3.5.4 released
11 October 2006: KDE 3.5.5 released.

A slight aquaintance with the facts might be called for, before some goes shooting of their mouth, and sticking their foot in it.

Fair enough, enigma, but I think that's a bit of a quibble. I think the underlying point remains through, that the volunteerism in OSS has problems.

My point has always been that it's exploiting developers.

[enigma's comment was hardly a quibble, refutes 50% of what you said]

And don't be ridiculous. I retain the product all the labour I do on open source projects. That someone else has it too adds to its value through network effects, not detracts from it. No one forced me to do it, no one forced me to publish my contributions. I was not exploited in any way.

"Software" is fundamentally different to physical things.

If I give you an apple, and you give me a banana, I lose one apple, you lose one banana.

If I give you a copy of software A I wrote, and you give me a copy of software B you wrote, now we both have A+B, hey, everyone's better off. No one forces me to share (just as no-one forces a closed-source developer to rip off GPL software and then whine about "viral" licensing). Sharing just makes more sense for information, including but not limited to software!

This works in software and doesn't work for apples (though there is a loose analogy - if you assert you have any right to stop me growing my own apple tree from seed because it would damage your monopoly on apples, you're committing a similar error. It's not by accident that righteous opposition to software and gene patents go hand-in-hand)

Patent monopolists and other people hiding behind the propaganda term I"P" are essentially evil. Yes, evil. They seek to doom humanity to darkness. Well, tough. We of the light won't stand for it anymore. It is our _responsibility_ to overthrow the cruel regime of the I"P" crowd.