Do you donate money to software projects?

[tkjacobsen]

I really can't afford it as a student.

EDIT:
This is a really good collection of bad excuses. You can use them everywhere:
To your girlfriend: "I really can't give you a christmas gift bacause (insert post from this thread)"
To your boss: "I can't afford gas to drive to work because ..." <- Maybe this will make the situation worse.
....
....
....
Think about it.

[Cyvros]

I really can't afford it as a student.

EDIT:
This is a really good collection of bad excuses. You can use them everywhere:
To your girlfriend: "I really can't give you a christmas gift bacause (insert post from this thread)"
To your boss: "I can't afford gas to drive to work because ..." <- Maybe this will make the situation worse.
....
....
....
Think about it.

It really does explain anything, doesn't it? It even beats the tried and true "Tax purposes" line.

Sometimes, I think that students were designed to be poor...

[falkenberg_cph]

Never. The kids sleeping in train stations I see every day come before any FOSS project in my priorities.

Good point.
But dont forget that many FOSS projects concerns humanitarian technology.

[Tux Aubrey]

I know this sounds daggy, but when I first tried Ubuntu earlier this year, I immediately sent US$50 to Canonical via their PayPal account. I think I was so excited at finding a real alternative to "THAT OTHER OPERATING SYSTEM", I just wanted to say thank-you. I got a nice email back saying that my donation would be used to support a high priority bounty.

This thread has reminded me to do it again soon. Maybe the Beryl or Fluxbox projects this time - or a bounty for a REALLY GOOD SoHo networking manager.

Maybe if I donate 25% of the money I am saving by not upgrading my PCs for Vista, I can help get something really cool off the ground.

[lyceum]

I know this sounds daggy, but when I first tried Ubuntu earlier this year, I immediately sent US$50 to Canonical via their PayPal account. I think I was so excited at finding a real alternative to "THAT OTHER OPERATING SYSTEM", I just wanted to say thank-you. I got a nice email back saying that my donation would be used to support a high priority bounty.

This thread has reminded me to do it again soon. Maybe the Beryl or Fluxbox projects this time - or a bounty for a REALLY GOOD SoHo networking manager.

Maybe if I donate 25% of the money I am saving by not upgrading my PCs for Vista, I can help get something really cool off the ground.

That is the way to go. Give money for the things you want or use. I plan to give monthly, but to different projects every time. I will be giving money to Bluefish when I get my tax money back.

[raul_]

I really can't afford it as a student.

Same here

[50words]

One thing I love about FOSS is the ability to "try before you buy" (if you buy at all). It takes me months to decide whether, for example, OpenOffice.org will fulfill all my needs. Once I am sure that it will, I usually donate to the project. I figure since I am replacing MS Office 2007 with OOo, I will eBay my copy of MS Office 2007 and donate the proceeds to OOo. With other software, I try to spend approximately what the software would be worth. Usually that is at least $20 to any software I use regularly, and $50-100 to software I use all the time.

I want to encourage the developers to continue developing the software, and if there is a feature I especially want, I figure my request goes over even better with a bit of cash.

Also, I firmly believe that I should reward the people who add value to my life, whether paying musicians (not record companies), authors, or software developers. Sure many will keep doing it because they enjoy it or it adds value to their own lives, but it's easier and we all get more out of it if we help them along.