Let me cite Mr. Reiser ( http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS8278035161.html ):
"The legal costs, and the low rewards from open-source programming, had also been upsetting Mr. Reiser. In a 2005 email conversation, he wrote, 'Free software is not a good way to make money. We as a society don't create rewards for it. We could, but we don't. We could create a system in which hardware was taxed and the users allocated the taxes to the software they use, and that would fix the problem.' 'So, when I go to conferences, and people say odd things like 'It is an honor to meet you.,' doing free software is great, but in the Alameda County courts, if you don't have money, you are s***,' he added." Not that taxing hardware to pay for a free source development will work, but we should do something about it. Otherwise, open source community will continue to lose its brightest people, burned out after receiving no compensation for their best efforts. What we do need, beside a good will, is a convenient, reliable, affordable international money transfer service. PayPal and other dot-com kids generally aren't. Postal money orders ( and Eurogiro ) ain't much better. Western Union is, by far, most competent service available, only they'd charge me US $17+ for a single transaction, depends on an amount being transferred. They all aren't up to a general community benefit in long term. Inconvenient, unreliable, expensive. So, my question is: can we make SPI ( http://www.spi-inc.org/, http://www.debian.org/donations ) into monetary service which accepts from and is able to transfer money to any country in the world? Is able to deliver money basically from door to door ( post-office/bank to PO/B ) ? Doesn't require anything beside internet connection and local bank / post office account? Charges only some percentage for its own operational expenses, so there could be some sense in donating just a few bucks, and be sure that most of it gets to intended developer ( and yes, this is crucial ) ? Accepts donations for any developer and any project, not just supported ones ? Provides traceable and secure transactions, even if it doesn't deliver within minutes, days, weeks? I have a feeling that such a service would greatly encourage people to donate to open source developers, which in turn, would get support they need to continue giving to the public. Most people would like to help programmers, but they don't like the idea to spend most of their money on a service just to get money moved around. -- mario -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]