Re: [News] How Monetisation Hurts Linux

[Paul Bramscher <pfbram_nospam@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Roy Schestowitz wrote:
> Money or nothing? Trade-offs in FOSS compensation
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | What happens when a free and open source software (FOSS) project
> | attempts to introduce compensation for its developers? Because FOSS
> | remains based largely on volunteer work, many worry that payment
> | might demotivate both those who receive it and those who do not.
> `----
>
> http://community.linux.com/article.pl?sid=07/02/23/203207&from=rss
>
> Never worked for Debian. Only ruined everything. And yes, Novell just took
> the money and betrayed GNU developers, exposing them to limitation and
> allowing Microsoft to collect (through secret extortions) money exctrated
> from GNU utilities (and bogus IP).
>
> Linux Community Still Outraged by Novell Pact
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | Leaders of the open source movement are at work on a legal strategy
> | that could let Novell retain the benefits of the deal, while
> | preventing Microsoft from using it to attack other open source firms.
> | They're drafting a new version of the General Public License or GPL,
> | the Free Software Foundation's legal rulebook, which governs how
> | Linux and other open source code can be used.
> `----
>
> http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/kwJz51E8kKkqhI/Linux-Community-Still-Outraged-by-Novell-Pact.xhtml

I differ, and think that money *might* work in FOSS to compensate 
developers, but it would have to work this way:

1) Money goes into a generic pot, perhaps as an endowment.
2) No-strings-attached in any way, shape, or form in terms of project 
direction, scope, expectation, time lines, etc.

Ubuntu offers so-called "bounties" for specific project work.  That 
mechanism is the polar opposite, but it's under benevolent dictatorship 
and seems to have worked as well.  Here's an interesting site I just 
came across: http://bountycounty.org/.

In any case, the problem with FOSS is when strings are attached to the 
money, it's not fairly distributed, and the project is no longer run by 
technologists themselves.

I see no reason why we can't have everything: total volunteer efforts, 
bountied efforts, a communal pot to draw from, etc.  Until our mortgage 
and food are likewise free, we still need incomes.