kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Fabrizio Tappero <fabrizio.tappero@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hello guys,
is money coming from companies the only way an open-source project can
be financed with?

Regards
Fabrizio


On Thu, Mar 29, 2012 at 10:13 AM, Miguel Angel Ajo Pelayo
<miguelangel@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hi Dick, I find good that you share all this with the project so clearly.
>
> As far as I understand (please correct me if I'm wrong) we must be seeking
> for a project maintainer, and better if it gets  funded from some
> corporation
> (that would be the best situation).
>
> In our case, we're such a little company (2 people) that we're already
> doing
> more than we can with the scripting, which I'm happy to do it in the
> weekends,
> and eventually we'll have something stable and nice to include in KiCad at
> the right time.
>
> If I could help in handling the contributed patches, I'd step to the front,
> but I
> still don't find confident enough about the internal architecture of Kicad
> (just
> to know if something will work or just will cause trouble...). And also, in
> our current
> situation we have a very bad lack of man/hours in our little company.
>
>
> Something ideal could be to find a set of companies or corporations
> interested in
> economically funding kicad (or "kicad foundation")  and make things from
> there. But this could be complicated at this time I think. Any ideas?
>
> It's good to know that SoftPLC is interested in offering paid support for
> other companies,
> because that's something that builds trust about other companies that could
> be interested in working with kicad (companies that may end funding..)
>
> Sincerely,
> Mike
>
> 2012/3/29 Dick Hollenbeck <dick@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>>
>> It is my fear that the KiCad project has or will soon hit a ceiling with
>> regard to
>> graceful growth.  I fear that without additional corporate funding and
>> full time
>> coordination of incoming patches, that this ceiling will become very
>> visible in the near
>> future.
>>
>> For the last year, I have been a proponent of building in the kinds of
>> features which
>> would appeal to corporate/institutional users.  The reason is that
>> corporate users have
>> access to funding, in one form or another.  Hobbyists cannot propel this
>> project beyond
>> the near term project structural ceiling that I am forewarning about.
>>
>>
>> This will be a fairly difficult growth spasm to overcome for the project.
>>  Just
>> contributing more patches will only overwhelm a part time organizer/sifter
>> of such patches.
>>
>>
>> Linus Torvalds does not work on Linux using his own money, even though he
>> originally did.
>> There are certain milestones to be expected as a project grows beyond a
>> single person.
>> Not all projects are destined to succeed with passage beyond each
>> milestone.
>>
>>
>> In each of your little contributions of ideas, strategy, and heave forbid,
>> genuinely
>> tangible contributions, please remember what I am saying.  The hobbyist
>> who says his
>> screen is not big enough may not be as important as the corporate user,
>> such as CERN, who
>> says they will use it if and when it does XYZ.
>>
>>
>> This month, for the first time, one developer received several thousand
>> dollars in funding
>> for specific features which were agreed to and requested by a "corporate
>> like" funder.
>> This is a step in the right direction.  But let me emphasize that it came
>> about because we
>> listened closely to the corporate user.
>>
>>
>> Related to this, without intent to make matters worse, SoftPLC Corporation
>> has decided
>> today that it will no longer fund the fixing of bugs, nor offer any more
>> free support.  I
>> can be hired to fix bugs and offer support, but won't do it for free
>> anymore.
>>
>>
>> To the extent possible, SoftPLC Corporation *will continue* to fund only
>> development of
>> *new* code.  This means no bug fixing, nor support.  Since I am often the
>> guy who answers
>> an initial knock on the door on this mailing list, I think somebody better
>> plan on
>> stepping up and filling that role immediately.
>>
>>
>> I hope that KiCad can smash through the structural ceiling that I forewarn
>> about, but this
>> is definitely not a certainty.
>>
>> Best regards,
>>
>> Dick
>>
>>
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>
>
>
>
> --
>
> Miguel Angel Ajo Pelayo
> http://www.nbee.es
> +34 636 52 25 69
> skype: ajoajoajo
>
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