I don't think that's really an apt comparison. Most software people who are in it purely for the craft are deep in open source, and open source doesn't necessarily build the most user-friendly tooling. If it did, you'd see apps like GIMP seriously challenging Adobe, etc. So much of the software layer built for enterprise and consumers relied on VC. I can only speak for myself, but I'd be willing to bet that 95+% of developers I've worked with would not build user-facing software for free. We are all in it for the money.
I'm willing to be that 95% of developers you've worked with are, but how representative that is of the broader group is indeterminate. Apple is full of developers who give a shit about design, or at least, had to pass an interview that pretends that they pretend to give a predend shit... look, at some level you just have to buy that people are who they say they are. Even if you're in it for the money, you're going to conferences and speaking about it to people, so it's you.
