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View Full Version : Complete Financial Support for Open Source - Bad or Good?



WalmartSniperLX
May 17th, 2007, 01:41 AM
Im sure many of you have educated yourselves well enough that Linux is mostly built by people who love it, and do it for free. There are some who get paid, but that is a minority. With that said, should there be financial support for all linux developers? Or should they continue to do it for *free?

I'm not giving an explication on how we can financially support open source developers. I am just asking, if it were possible and offered, should the community accept?


My thoughts:

First I believed that it would be a great idea to pay people to work on linux. It can lead to higher support and quality due to our human nature to work harder when there is an outcome such as money, a neccesity for survival.

But, now I think the opposite. As the community stands as of now, everyone is very selfless and helpful to others. We give knowledge and service for free.

If the free world becomes tied with money, I doubt the community would be the same and open source users and developers will become more of something that we currently are not : greedy.

Doing things for money can lead to a different outcome than doing things out of pure joy.

maniacmusician
May 17th, 2007, 01:49 AM
You're right; sort of. Open source developers love to do stuff that they're passionated by. I'm sure they would also like to be able to make a living off of it. I'm not a developer by any means, but I love working with Linux projects. I'm a great project manager and have a couple of my own churning away behind the scenes...but I only get to work on them when I find some spare time. It would be awesome if I could devote all my time to working on those projects and getting paid for it. I'd still love doing it just as much, but I wouldn't have to worry about where the next paycheck is coming from.

WalmartSniperLX
May 17th, 2007, 02:01 AM
Then maybe I am half wrong; people will continue to offer free service, free software, and free knowledge, even if they get paid. I guess making a living off something you love doesn't destroy it, especially since in opensource you have the freedom to make whatever you want.

The reason why I posted this is because I was brainstorming possibilites for developers to get paid. I thought of many means including approaches we are already taking, such as donations. The problem with donations is that it's very limted and people don't always donate. Any ideas?

Tundro Walker
May 17th, 2007, 02:41 AM
I think part of what makes Linux good is removing the overhead of budget and profit from the overall equation. This leaves folks who are really passionate about what they do doing it, and they can take their time and do it the way they see fit. However, they will work on what they want, when they want, so there is the lack of direction sometimes.

This isn't to say that programmers who get paid to work lack passion or motivation. But in their camp, they usually have a budget to worry about, a deadline (which is usually tight and stressful...a technique some project managers use to try to "motivate" their programmers by making it seem like everything is always cutting it close, and ending up burning out the programmers in the long run).

In the Windows world, you have Microsoft paying their programmers to do some amazing stuff, but the schedule, budget, politics, etc, seem to ship before it's done. Then, you have gun-slingers and ronin project groups on Source Forge cranking out some amazing stuff, but you may wait a really long time before they finish, and if you're unlucky, the project may fold before it's done, as priorities shift to "real life", having to drop out of a project for finals, due to work-related issues (IE: their REAL job, or maybe lack there of), etc.

Linux is the same way. Some companies pay their developers (like Ubuntu), and Linux also has its humanitarians / philanthropists that do it for the good of all, or the gun-slinger / ronin types that do it for the challenge or to prove that something can be done.

Pro's and con's to both methods, but I think the real issue is that, since they're both 2 ends of a pendulum that swings back and forth, why hasn't a decent middle ground been established? Why can't programmers get paid decent money to do their work, and why can't that work get sold for modest amounts instead of price-gouging consumers? It's because business folks step in to help out a company, and slowly changes the motivation from producing good products to simply "making money". Then, they get really rabid and tighten up project schedules, decide that "good enough" is worth shipping rather than "the best", etc. So, you end up going from gun-slinger ronin's, to small company programmers, to larger company programers to...Microsoft. As the business grows, so does the focus on profit.

Much like nature, it'll work itself out. Microsoft must be doing something right, otherwise so many talented folks wouldn't strive to work for them. But, there are companies that are doing things wrong, and have rogue programmers spending spare time working on side projects that get posted as free ware or open source.

blastus
May 17th, 2007, 03:23 AM
One of the ways people can support open source is by not supporting Microsoft. Microsoft actively works against open source in the government, schools, businesses, the media, home users etc... There is no neutrality, no mutual respect, no cooperation, no coexistence as far as Microsoft's barking executives are concerned. Make no mistake about it, they want open source in all it's forms to disappear because they can't compete against open source like they can an actual business that drives revenue from traditional software development.

justin whitaker
May 17th, 2007, 03:56 AM
I can see both sides of it, I guess. On the one hand, if I could make money in Open Source, then I would probably work for the cause full time, instead of being a hobbyist. I'm sure alot of other finance people, marketers, coders feel the same. There are lots of ways to make an impact in open source, but I do, however, need to eat.:)

So, I donate to projects. Maybe not on a large scale, like taking $10000 and giving it to GIMP or something, but I try to give a little of each paycheck back to some project....thus far, I have kicked money to Elive, PClinuxOS, LinuxTorrent, and a bunch of other projects because, while I can't contribute code (I don't know how :(), I can contribute beer money.

As my appreciation of Open Source grows, I have a real issue with Free Riders. If everyone just sits there and complains about Ubuntu and other open source projects, but does nothing to help....then they really have a negative impact on the open source community.

If you can't code, then write articles, documentation, how-to's. If you can't do that, then help others make the switch to Open Source. If you can't do that, then donate money to your favorite distribution, application, or project. Code, Time, or Money. Everyone has something they can contribute.

WalmartSniperLX
May 17th, 2007, 06:11 AM
WAIT A SECOND. You know who should get financial support for opensource? Hardware Manufactuers! One reason MS is considered a monopoly and/or an enterprise whom uses monopoly-like tactics because they pay hardware developers to make hardware based around their OS to ensure its compatibility. If hardware developers were paid to develop drivers for linux (or improve current opensource ones if needed), then that would be a HUGE step in Linux' desktop readyness.

justin whitaker
May 17th, 2007, 06:18 AM
WAIT A SECOND. You know who should get financial support for opensource? Hardware Manufactuers! One reason MS is considered a monopoly and/or an enterprise whom uses monopoly-like tactics because they pay hardware developers to make hardware based around their OS to ensure its compatibility. If hardware developers were paid to develop drivers for linux (or improve current opensource ones if needed), then that would be a HUGE step in Linux' desktop readyness.

It would need to be done on a community scale. Those guys all talk money starting in denominations of millions. :)

WalmartSniperLX
May 17th, 2007, 06:20 AM
Now with feedback from a few of you, it seems financial support for opensource would be a good thing after all, proving my latest opinon wrong. If only there was a way to get together and brainstorm a great idea.