Welcome Guest.   Make a donation to an author on the site November 21, 2009, 06:04:00 AM  *

Please login or register.
Or did you miss your validation email?


Login with username and password (forgot your password?)
Why not become a lifetime supporting member of the site with a one-time donation of any amount? Your donation entitles you to a ton of additional benefits, including access to exclusive discounts and downloads, the ability to enter monthly free software drawings, and a single non-expiring license key for all of our programs.

You must sign up here before you can post and access some areas of the site. Registration is totally free and confidential.
 
Latest Newsletter: November 6th, 2009 - Codename "Bird Meets Frog"
   
   Forum Home   Thread Marks Chat! Downloads Search Login Register  
+  DonationCoder.com Forum
|-+  Open Discussion
| |-+  Living Room
| | |-+  Article: The Economics of Open Source Donations
Pages: [1]   Go Down
« previous next »
  Print  
Author Topic: Article: The Economics of Open Source Donations  (Read 2400 times)
mouser
First Author
Administrator
*****
Posts: 21,839



plarker mouser see users location on a map View Profile WWW Read user's biography. Give some DonationCredits to this forum member
« on: August 03, 2007, 05:14:56 PM »
Quote
Donations play a crucial role in supporting Free and Open Source Software projects. At times readers will write in to share their positive experience with a utility or program or a distribution that I have written about. Now don't confuse them with your average technical-bent-of-mind Linux user. These are accountants, home-office businessman, and even carpenters and plumbers, who've saved a lot of money thanks to open source software. And they have one question in mind -- how do I help the person behind the program?

This month, Packt columnist and open source enthusiast Mayank Sharma explores the economics behind open source projects, what they do with their donations and how crucial they can be to their future.


from http://www.fsdaily.com/
Logged
housetier
Charter Honorary Member
***
Posts: 1,036



http://nrrd.de/

see users location on a map View Profile WWW Read user's biography. Give some DonationCredits to this forum member
« Reply #1 on: January 16, 2008, 06:04:40 PM »
Only 2 people have ever donated to one of my projects. I admit I didn't ask very aggressively because I doubt it would have helped. The projects is not well known, and has received no press coverage ever. At the same time I do not want to complain too much, because the costs (as in cash money) of keeping that project up are very small.

I wish more people would donate to dc.com so we wouldn't even need to ask them via the fundraisers. We would still need to thank them and tell them what it was spent on... But for the time being we must ask them to donate it seems.
Logged
::: Das Buch :::
iphigenie
Supporting Member
**
Posts: 805


curiosity FTW!

see users location on a map View Profile WWW Read user's biography. Give some DonationCredits to this forum member
« Reply #2 on: January 18, 2008, 01:04:00 AM »
Trying to think about it, I dont think I have ever donated to an open source project. Unless you count buying official CDs straight from the freebsd guys. Or time submitting bug information.  huh

I have donated to freeware authors, I have donated to websites I find worthy, but I dont think I have ever donated to open source.

But then the only open source stuff I use are the large, old, server-ey projects which have funding from large corporate sponsors or a company behind it extracting money from support contracts.

Ah yes, there was postfix! I did donate a tad to that.

But still, I should think about the few open source small projects I still use and support them a little. After all I complain enough most open source lack polish because volunteer programmers hate the parts of the job which are usability and tying loose ends etc. So supporting the few I use which are polished (winmerge, peazip...) is a good idea. And I should get the company to donate/buy support for some they use, perhaps.
Logged
My current main nattering place: http://www.friendfeed.com/iphigenie

MOOCH my books http://bookmooch.com/inventory/iphigenie
SAY hello, I'm everywhere
iphigenie
Supporting Member
**
Posts: 805


curiosity FTW!

see users location on a map View Profile WWW Read user's biography. Give some DonationCredits to this forum member
« Reply #3 on: February 02, 2008, 06:43:37 AM »
This thread made me go and donate to the winmerge project  Thmbsup
Peazip doesnt seem to have a donate link/option anywhere
Logged
My current main nattering place: http://www.friendfeed.com/iphigenie

MOOCH my books http://bookmooch.com/inventory/iphigenie
SAY hello, I'm everywhere
iphigenie
Supporting Member
**
Posts: 805


curiosity FTW!

see users location on a map View Profile WWW Read user's biography. Give some DonationCredits to this forum member
« Reply #4 on: February 02, 2008, 06:46:35 AM »
One more thought - this was on the website of a publisher, packt.

I think it would be good form if all these publishers and authors who make a nice living writing books about open source projects would donate/contribute to said projects. In some cases it happens cause the author is on the project but often the author nowadays is just someone who made a pitch.

After all they have no more income if the projects die, so it's not only a 'fairness' requirement but good commercial sense
Logged
My current main nattering place: http://www.friendfeed.com/iphigenie

MOOCH my books http://bookmooch.com/inventory/iphigenie
SAY hello, I'm everywhere
mouser
First Author
Administrator
*****
Posts: 21,839



plarker mouser see users location on a map View Profile WWW Read user's biography. Give some DonationCredits to this forum member
« Reply #5 on: February 02, 2008, 07:00:51 AM »
Quote
I think it would be good form if all these publishers and authors who make a nice living writing books about open source projects would donate/contribute to said projects.

I really agree with this, and i don't think it happens much.
Logged
Renegade
Charter Member
***
Posts: 1,082


Tell me something you don't know...

see users location on a map View Profile WWW Give some DonationCredits to this forum member
« Reply #6 on: February 02, 2008, 08:16:35 AM »
I don't think many people are making much off of writing books. Most people write books to get consulting gigs and speaking arrangements.
Logged
Slow Down MP3s with GDT
Rant about bad software here smiley NSFW
.NET podcast for developers & mISVs
Pages: [1]   Go Up
  Print  
« previous next »
 
Jump to:  
   Forum Home   Thread Marks Chat! Downloads Search Login Register  

DonationCoder.com | About Us
DonationCoder.com Forum | Powered by SMF
SMF © 2006-2009, Simple Machines LLC

social bookmark this page