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Request for information about DonationCoder

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db90h:
What third-party components and code are used in Screenshot Captor and other utilities here? I know SSC has several, for image manipulation and such. Are these properly licensed? Many allow licensing for 'freeware', but is donationware freeware? I would hope everything is licensed ;o. Ah, I'm sure they are! After all, this is a business - not a traditionally run business, but it is a business since it has incoming revenue. Just looking out for DC, making sure everything is run as a business MUST be run by law (whether we like it or not).

DonationCoder supposedly has hosting costs of $450+ a month, which is ABSURD .. you can set up a cheaper dedicated server in no time at 1/4 the cost. Why pay so much? I estimate DC revenues to EXCEED $60k a year (at least) , with the fund raising and donations, which is NOT BAD AT ALL. Quite good actually, very good. Nice job mouser!

I would, however, request that since this site is 'open' and relies on 'donations', that we see the books and make sure these donations are not being misappropriated, and just how many donations there are. Then, when you beg for donations, we'll all know how bad you need, or don't need them.

Heck, at that level of success, maybe I'll open my own donation based site ;). Nice work. Great scheme, though I hate schemes ;p. I prefer the old fashioned way of doing business. You know, you pay for a good or service a reasonable price, and everyone is happy. Yea, I think I'll stick with my own traditional business. Still, it is amazing this site generates that kind of revenue.

Just looking out for DC, as I don't think the owner gets that it is a business sometimes. You are also liable for taxes, which I hope you know!!! Else you'll find out and be in real bad shape.

As many know, I've given all the advice and help I can to the site, so I hope this doesn't sound accusatory or anything, just making sure all bases are covered. Finally got him signing his apps, instead of complaining about warnings. I probably saved him and the site from numerous false positives right there (seriously).

Best of luck to Donation Coder's continued thriving business!

Jibz:
I can't imagine mouser not making sure any components he is using are properly licensed, or misappropriating any donations .. he knows I would frown upon that! ;D

db90h:
I can't imagine mouser not making sure any components he is using are properly licensed, or misappropriating any donations .. he knows I would frown upon that! ;D
-Jibz (March 07, 2012, 04:10 AM)
--- End quote ---

Likewise, I'm sure he hasn't, it is just the world is so complex these days, an 'audit' is probably in order given the freeware/donationware complication, and the fact that so much freeware isn't freeware anymore, it's bundleware (something mouser does endorse, though not use YET afaik). For him, I guess it is another way to avoid actually charging for software. What is so wrong with charging for software? Beats me. Seems better than begging, BUT with his kind of income, maybe I've got it backwards ;p.

HOWEVER, if he is really paying that much for a server, he needs to take a day or two and switch, for God's sake ;p.

I do assume he is paying his taxes, I know he isn't that bold as to try to cheat the IRS. I couldn't sleep at night if I tried that, even if the odds were in my favor. This isn't a charity, it is a business, and taxes must be paid. I've never heard him complain about them, but EVERY OTHER software developer I know has --- because we, as self-employeed people, are taxed out the arse here in the USA.

We ALL want to make sure mouser has a livable income. However, at the same time, if he were generating more revenue than anyone imagined, I can't help but wonder .... Hmm... If he needs MORE, then we should be able to look at the books and give him more. If he does NOT need more, then we should likewise be notified. That's the compromise in running a pretend-charity, which is what I consider DonationCoder to be. It's like a charity, but not. It's a business.

db90h:
PREDICTION: I may be banned for posting this, lol. It is not my INTENTION to hurt my friend mouser's revenue stream, or what he has built. Just like I'm sure he has no intentions to hurt me. He wouldn't, for instance, start copying my software with third-party components and code on the web, then giving a cheap hack away, that wouldn't be friendly. I'm just hoping to help him avoid troubles down the road.

mouser:
I try to use 3rd party components whenever possible(!)  The main one for Screenshot Captor is ImageEn which of course I licensed (I've had many discussions with the author of it; I recommend all small developers reach out to other coders when using their components, often they will give you a very good deal if you ask and explain how you wish to use it).

db I know you are mad and frustrated for what you have decided dc has done, or could do to hurt your business.. I'm sorry you feel that way.

I don't think I owe you this information but..

For the record, DC server hosting costs are $415 a month -- a dedicated server hosted at Softlayer on a virtual machine, which hosts both our main site and the member site where some members have an account.  It serves up 35gb a day.  When we moved to the new server we were hoping it would be a bit overkill, large enough for both DC and the member server stuff and big enough we could use it to host experimental sites, but we still haven't gotten it working fast enough to feel comfortable doing that.  The next time we move servers, which we do every couple of years, we may go back to non-virtual server setup.  If we had time to devote to optimizing it more, we could probably do more with it.  We could surely get by with a less powerful server but I still remember the old days of a forum that would regularly slow down, and I remember how wonderful it was when we upgraded our server and everything loaded fast -- it was a joyous feeling that has made me always want to make sure we have a fast server.  And we've always leaned towards spending more to go with a more reliable host since I don't have the skills to take care of tricky server problems.

As for taxes, DC is files as an LLC and I've always paid full taxes and reported full money coming into the site as income, and money going out via donationcredits as expenses.  That's just the simple risk averse way of doing it.  As for your theory of us making $60,000 a year - ha! that would be wonderful but sadly it's not anywhere near that high.  I'm not going to post the exact amount of money that comes into DC, saying nothing about how much goes out via donationcredits, but the average daily donation to DC last year was somewhere around $30 I think.

I understand you are angry at sites like DC taking away money from software companies that sell software -- I sympathize -- that's not our intention.  I think you'll see the history of this site was always that it was created as an experiment to see if people would voluntarily pay for software if they didn't have to.  I firmly believe the world would be a better place if people could choose how much to pay for digital content, and were more willing to do so.  The dream was that this approach could bring in enough money to let me and coders like me, do what they enjoy doing, coding, and survive on it.  The ironic and somewhat tragic part of the experiment is the need to spend so much time asking for money from people.. It's a weird situation and in some ways it seems so much simpler to just charge a fee for a product.  I certainly have come to appreciate the straightforwardness of just selling an honest product for an honest price -- and I've lamented quite a bit in the recent years against the ad-supported "free" nature of web services, in favor of a more straightforward fee-for-service approach.  So my views are evolving on this stuff too.  But I am proud that DC has managed to stay true to it's vision of letting people pay what they want for our software, and I don't want that to change.  I'm sorry if you feel it hurts your business by taking away business.  That's not my intention.

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