Leonard Ritter wrote: > How is a beginning open source project funded, usually?
great goodness of heart and an ex-employer who lets you "keep the keys" - minimizing unnecessary accessories (shaving-kit, vacuum-cleaner, etc) helps a lot ;-) open-source coding is an Art not an Industry. - unless you want to sell support or merchandise, I recommend to get similar funding as Artists. Alas, most open-source code is [considered] craftsmanship not Art and it sells as such. - now compare it to music-business: it's a pitiful career unless (and even) if you're at the TOP; - ..usual exceptions.. a "donation" button to sell improvement-on-request seems the best option. If you get annoyed/broke: show it: donation-progress-splash-screen, change the default-app background to a picture of your fridge if a user has not made a donation for a month, etc... > There is no dependency between you and your users, meaning that the > choices you make might not necessarily be choices embraced by the > community. Again, there is no contract, just a requirement of > trust. that's a feature not e bug :) - I did not yet read your BLOG - but maybe you're looking for a shareware-license instead of GPL. It would be a pity though. open-source 2007: "erst kommt das Fressen, dann kommt die Moral" - You can certainly sell "coding services" to a community or individuals and make a binding contract under GPL. Is this an issue that the linux-audio-consortion could address? -> set up a foundation to pay developers on project basis. (much like sourceforge donations - but first we need a wiki, blog, forum and project-MS :) ) robin PS. facts-from-a-parallel-universe: Vincent cut off his ear after 3days of debugging his rendering code.
