This got me to thinking. I really like the idea of open source, however, it confounds me on it's viability. I think it's really admirable that so many programmers donate their time to the whole GNU/FSF movement. I cannot believe the effort put into things like KDevelop which is offered free to the community. WOW! However, the downside of open source is 1) sometimes you get what you pay for, 2) if there isn't a developer interested in createing a specific piece of software you'll be hard-pressed to find it, 3) if you aren't a developer, open source (i.e. having access to code) doesn't mean a lot to you. So how can a regular (non-sysadmin/non-developer) linux user benefit/contribute from open source and peak the interest in generating software that is hard to come by? I was thinking that maybe via group sponsorship we could as a Community *pay* to have someone or some group build us software that would then be made, code-wise, available to the rest of the world. Maybe this already exists, but it would be cool if Marcia, and I, and hopefully a significant amount of others could lobby some developer(s) to build us a TurboTax clone. Developers could bid on a price and us users could determine whether we could afford to pay for that deveroper's efforts and via pay-pal or something divide up the cost evenly between sponsors and hopefully generate some quality software? This in effect would be a charitable contribution on the part of Marcia, myself, and the other sponsors since other folks that didn't sponsor the developer would reap the rewards without paying a dime. I think I'd be ok with this because I just want my TurboTax for linux. I can't write such an application myself - so either I go without it or try to convince someone to build it for me. Money would probably be a better method of convincing than pleading and groveling and wishing. However, I don't know if the rest of the linux community could afford to sponsor developers, or would be comfortable paying for software that other people would eventually get for free. Anyway, what do you think? -----Original Message----- From: marcia [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Monday, April 02, 2001 12:03 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [newbie] Linux Tax Software? Dear All, It is tax time and I am surprised to see no discussion about doing one's taxes with Linux. Is there a tax program for Linux that works like Quicken TurboTax? Thanks for your help. Sincerely, Marcia
