kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Javier Serrano <javier.serrano.pareja@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hello, I have little to add to what Wayne said. Just a few clarifications:

- Donors to KiCad donate because they trust we will use the money
correctly. For practical reasons, they cannot decide what specifically will
be done with the money, even if we are always happy to read their
suggestions. But these are voluntary donations, not contracts. All
donations to the CERN & Society Foundation are like this. KiCad is no
exception.
- Every single cent donated to KiCad through CERN goes into KiCad
development. There is no overhead whatsoever, contrary to the funding
schemes of other Free and Open Source software projects.
- We always consult with Wayne before selecting a work package for paid
development, and never proceed without his agreement.
- A relatively simple way to see the impact of donations is to grep for
CERN copyright in the KiCad sources and exclude work where Tom or Orson are
the authors. Examples from the past (and present) include Eagle project
import and bus connection improvements [1].
- Money which was raised during the v6 campaign will be spent during the v6
development cycle. Embarking on v6 development too early would result in
unnecessary merging costs, as KiCad is constantly moving.
- The donations link is [2] or, equivalently, [3]. The v6 donation campaign
is over now, so please don't use [4].
- Anybody, feel free to contact me if you have good ideas for how to boost
KiCad funding in the future.

Cheers,

Javier

[1] https://github.com/craftyjon/kicad/tree/bus_upgrades
[2] http://cern.ch/go/fK9T
[3] https://giving.web.cern.ch/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=6
[4] http://givetokicad.web.cern.ch/

On Mon, Nov 26, 2018 at 1:04 AM hauptmech <hauptmech@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Work packages going out to developers that would otherwise be working on
> something else during the work day are a good thing. That's good to hear.
>
> The V6 donations page https://givetokicad.web.cern.ch/ could use an
> update. It's hard to tell whether the money is earmarked for V6 but not
> spent, went into V6 work that got shoehorned into V5, or got spent on V5
> as the pragmatic way to move things forward (though maybe not what
> donees were donating for).
>
> The current impression (We collected and spent (600 hours completed)
> your money on V6 promises even though it's clear that we are still
> fighting fires on V5.0) is probably not going to be great for the next
> campaign.
>
> On 26/11/2018 8:41 AM, Wayne Stambaugh wrote:
> > I cannot speak for CERN but I believe donations actually have quite a
> > bit of impact.  There are currently several v6 work packages that have
> > been drafted and developers have bid on the work.  This means the
> > developers will get paid to implement these features as part of the v6
> > development cycle which will help keep developers engaged.  Some of
> > these projects are fairly complex so asking skilled developers to do
> > this for free is asking a lot.  This would not be possible without
> > donations.
> >
> > I've also seen a significant uptick in developer interest in KiCad over
> > the last two years which has significant accelerated KiCad development.
> >   I have no doubt that the possibility of getting paid increases the
> > interest in working on KiCad.
> >
> > Would these features get developed any way?  Most likely but I am
> > confident that this would take much longer with an all volunteer
> > development team.  If you look at the most successful open source
> > project, almost without fail they have at least one paid full time
> > developer.
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Wayne
> >
> > On 11/24/2018 4:46 PM, hauptmech wrote:
> >> Can anyone at CERN speak about what impact, if any, donations actually
> >> have on their KiCAD work? The language around the donations page is
> >> slippery AF and the last time I checked, intending to donate, I walked
> >> away because I had no confidence that KiCAD would be affected.
> >>
> >>
> >> On 25/11/2018 5:19 AM, Seth Hillbrand wrote:
> >>> Hi All-
> >>>
> >>> Periodically, I meet people who are interested in supporting KiCad
> >>> financially.  Companies, I always redirect to Wayne and private
> >>> individuals I typically recommend donating through CERN. Currently, I
> >>> can't find a viable link on CERN's website for donating to KiCad.
> >>>
> >>> https://givetokicad.web.cern.ch is not accepting donations and
> >>> https://giving.web.cern.ch/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=12
> >>> doesn't have an option for KiCad.
> >>>
> >>> Where should people be looking to make individual donations?
> >>>
> >>> -S
> >>>
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> >>
> >>
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>
>
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