kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[David J S Briscoe <david@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 29/03/2012 09:53, Fabrizio Tappero wrote:
> 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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>> Post to     : kicad-developers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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>>
> _______________________________________________
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>
It would be great if something similar to the way Blender is funded
could be formed

http://www.blender.org/blenderorg/blender-foundation/

This would be the gold standard in my opinion.

David.