kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Dick Hollenbeck <dick@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 10/14/2010 11:50 PM, Michael Heidinger wrote:
> Hi,
>
> i find this idea great. I really like that. There are some features to 
> realize I would pay for it; but I'm afraid this can't be enought to live 
> from this little money (lets say up to 100 usd for a "big" feature).
>
> My idea is the following:
> 1. Step: Feature proposal: A user proposes a new feature.
> 2. If you consider it as too special, e.g. someone can say "I will do it 
> for the amount x usd as it is very speacial (but the price must be 
> fair!) in x days". Now its awailable in a kind of store, where you can 
> buy percentages of the feature. Of course 1 person can buy 100%! The 
> money is transfered to an account of trust.
> 3. If 100% of the amount is reached the developer starts developing. 
> After the user is satisfied the account of trust transfers the money.
> 4. Now the feature is awailable for everyone. In the corresponding 
> source code is marked "sponsored by user x programmed by user y"
>
> I really like this idea, as I am not very experienced in software 
> programming and I sometimes would really need some improvements for a 
> faster more efficent pcb design.
> Keep in mind: Some guys also use that program to make money, so why 
> shouldn't also you, the development team, profit from it?
>
> What I would be interested in: Are the developpers interested? 

It only takes one.

Some feature requests sit for years, folks wonder when they're going to
get done.

Features normally only get done when the guy coding it has the same
problem, so in that case it has been referred to as scratching your own
itch.

Beyond this (intersection of my problem and your problem), the open
source model breaks down.

I think there are already sites that are intended to conduct business
along these lines, and are targeted for open source projects.

It should be no mystery that qualified folks won't work for free.  The
major open source projects have corporate sponsors, so even those guys
are not working for free.


Dick




> Taking 
> money also means to statisfy the wishes of the customer and that means a 
> minimized freedom in programming.
>
> See you
> Michael
>