New Linux programming a bounty aproach!

[Omnios]

Hi I have been thinking of this for a few days now and this goes way beyond Ubuntu and Linux programming and programs in general.

Now how this works is that it collects donations to offer student programmers and programmers in general a bounty aproach to getting new software. My first thought was to offer it to programming students in that they may be entised to make a a Linux school projects based on a bounty and may be paid for there project. Now offering a student money to develop a linux program package may entise a lot of student programmers to look into programming for linux. Now say you have a group of students developing a new GUI program for Linux say like a graphical front end or something similar. The bounty would be set based on how much money is raised for that bounty or work on a vote and max system so say there may be a $500 or $1000 where the exra money donated goes into a pool. Anyways there msut be some set min and max amounts counting on the complexity of the program.

Now this does not sound much but imagine a starving student being able to make a couple hundred dollers or more for a school project. This would be very entising to them.

Even a normal programmer might be entised to develop a software package.

Now the most inportant part is the donation set up and execution in having suggestions for projects, a donation section where a person can specify where most of that donation goes. Now this is where it goes beyond Ubuntu as the programs will probably be available for all or most of the Linux distros so its not just a Ubuntu community donating but rather a Linux community in general.

Also guide lines must be set for the programs they make and also another tough aspect would be for larger programs that teams of students or programmers make.

The guidlins would be set to fill a voide for Linux programming such as say a working and easy to use music sequencer for example which would probablu be a project that I would donate to.


Anyone else have any idea's or experience pertaining to this.

[maniacmusician]

well i would definitely pay (or donate) for better audio support in linux, for sure, and some other things too...i think this is a great idea, in theory...but so was communism. I'm not criticizing at all, though. just saying, proceed cautiously. but we'll never know until it's put into practice...so yeah, go for it.

however, it will be very tricking managing the "extra money" that will go into a pool. You will have to set up a panel of neutral individuals to decide how to deal with the money. also, what will be the criteria for paying the students? I mean, what if the program totally bombs, and no one uses it? do the students still get paid? it seems unethical to not pay them for their effort, but at the same time, it will be a considerably large hit to have spent that amount of cash and not gotten the desired results, especially since it's donated money. should there maybe be some sort of evaluation system?

this is all pretty new, so you have to consider all the possibilities...

[Sweet Spot]

This certainly is an interesting idea, which if implemented
properly, could really do a lot of good. It's definitely not something to be dismissed IMO, and should be able to see the light of day. I would not hesitate in the least, to contribute/donate money towards a project which I knew would serve my needs, as well as a larger part of the Linux's communitie's, especially if I knew that [the project] was to be scrutinized by its devs and it had some backbone to stand on support wise.

Question is though, considering that (as you've acknowledged) this project wouldn't/shouldn't be limited to the realm of the Ubuntu distro, perhaps it would be good to find a more broad platform to discuss this on ? I think that talking about it here, at first, is a good idea though, since you can get a good feel for things based on initial impressions and reactions.

Something like this IMO, should be stickied if it conjors up enough response and positive feedback. But, that's JMHO.

Doug

[Omnios]

I was just thinking it might be nice to come up with a project proposal and e-mail it to say Mr Linus, Mark and a few other persuasive inteviduals and hopefully get something started. I think to do this we would need at least one person to stand behind it so it is taken seriosly.

[Tomosaur]

https://launchpad.net/bounties

[Omnios]

https://launchpad.net/bounties

I am aware of launchpad. Now to make things more clear thought part of the idea for this stems brom basic bounties it is not a Ubuntu bounty for a Ubuntu package. This idea is based on a centrallized project donation center and all needed infastructure to impliment a sort of bounty system for all of Linux no matter what distro it is.

Now another aspect of this is to impliment a system that excellerates and build on Linux development growth. The centrallised donation bounty system would allow for specific needs for developement pertaining to Linux and excellerating growth in this specific area with money being made for there developement.

One of the main parts why I think this would be inportant is allow the user to donate to a project that benifits the user. Some examples might be anything from a GUI dial up manager to allow changes on the fly with pannel controll for one which a specific area my Father has asked about and I am still looking for a dial up package that fits his needs.

Anyways there is also other areas that might benifit from this say a LInux Flash developer program and other commercial needs that seems to answer requested program needs even expressed on this forum many times over the last year and a half that I have been on this Forum.

Now the above example people could specify this neets there needs and donate development money towards this goal which I do not see impliment yet so it identifys a need.

[mafitzpatrick]

Anyone else have any idea's or experience pertaining to this.

S'funny. I was just thinking about this today, came on to check if anyone else was talking about it & here I am. It's also good to see that bounties are already registered into Launchpad - that's the technical side taken care of in a sense.

I'd like to see more use of the system - i.e. making it more openly publicised to be made use of by end-users. I see the best potential source of bounty-cash being businesses who are using Linux , want new features/software but don't have the programming resources to create it themselves. Not everyone organisation can have a coding dept, but most would be happy to put money forward to get something in return.

I'd set the focus on two things: a) encouraging companies to put forward bounties; b) encouraging coders (freelance, students, etc.) to complete the work.

Perhaps the next step is organising a project/list to discuss this further?

[sorin7486]

hello ppl....

I don't know if anybody is still watching this but here I go:

have you seen https://blueprints.launchpad.net/launchpad/+spec/bountypledges

????????????
I think we should support this feature in launchpad ... if nothing else just subscribe to it to show developers you are interested...