Looking for GNU payment plan

[stlu]

Hi,

As I get more involved with my Ubuntu system and other distros, I am downloading more and more Free software, some of which I will use often, others I won't. Since Free software is more valuable then closed-source software in my opinion, I don't want to let the freedom of obtaining it weaken the flow of cash to developers who deserve it.

Many sites hosting Free software offer paypal donations to support them, but knowing myself, there is no way I will remember to go back to each site and make a donation for the software I use the most.

I would be much more likely to pay for the frequently used software if there was a centralized payment system, which users could opt-in to. Not the Ubuntu One store which charges first, and includes closed-source software , this new thing would only be open to GPL software, still allowing full freedom of choice to pay for what they want, when they want.

I am thinking along the lines of Richard Stallman's "Press the Button" idea presented as a cheerful and positive way to fund music downloading rather then a tyrannical and oppressive system of threats and punishment for sharing music. I am wondering if such an idea could come to existance for Free software, or perhaps it already has. I did a quick google search for "GNU software payment" and found nothing.

In an example of the kind of payment system I am looking for, once downloaded it would work like this:

if I used a piece of software for over an hour of cumulative time, I wouldn't mind if the payment program - that I installed - showed me a quick pop-up to pay for the software in a 1-click fashion (it would be configured with credit card or paypal info at install time). It could even be graphically designed to look like "the button". Such a program would then make a donation to that developer with a percentage going to GNU(who better then that). It would take care of everything I wish to support.

Ubuntu itself could be included in this payment plan - give Ubuntu users the option to install the payment program, and say after 100 hours of uptime, the user is presented with "the button" and can make the choice to donate to the Ubuntu project in a single click.

Thanks.

[LuciferRex]

Considering your stipulation of it being optional software, I imagine this might go over really well. I think the hardest part would be integrating paypal accounts for all the different developers.