Ongoing funding of FS (Re: Innovation, funding and FS)

Bernhard E. Reiter bernhard at fsfe.org
Wed Sep 19 07:48:06 UTC 2018


Am Montag 17 September 2018 15:14:16 Paul Boddie wrote:

.. a lot again, I'll still have to read in more detail. :)

> There are at least three forms of funding platforms that tend to see some
> Free Software development activity:
>
>  * Bounty funding 
>  * Ongoing funding
>  * Crowdfunding campaign

> Ongoing funding potentially promotes a more sustainable way of funding
> people,

this is the most interesting to me. Because each software component needs some 
basic maintenance, including running the necessary infrastructure (from the 
human side). Examples where continuous funding is working in a fine way that
I know.

https://www.patreon.com/evanyou  for the work on vuejs.org
 which is a competitor to Google's Angular and Facebook's React
 that keeps interests of more people in mind like
 progressive learning experience and modularity

https://wiki.debian.org/LTS/Funding via Freexian at
  https://www.freexian.com/services/debian-lts.html

(Transparency: my company supports both initiatives)

> at least if we can ignore those cultural issues around keeping the 
> audience happy, because a developer can potentially prioritise their work
> appropriately and not feel that they have to dance to everybody else's tune
> all the time. But the problem then is to persuade people that the work is
> worth supporting. 

You make it sound like a bad thing, there I disagree: I believe it is good 
that it is necessary to show that work is good. As software designer, like as 
professional in any other business, there must be some competition and if you 
fail to be able to show relevance your work may turn out not being that 
relevant after all. 

What I dislike and where I agree with you is if decisions are taken based on 
marketing material alone, personal experiences or relationships, often 
without taking mid and long term goals of one's own organisation in mind. 

The antidote here is education and explanation. Paying for Free Software, even 
when it is not mandatory, is still in the best interest of its users. 
(Potential advertisment:) This is why I do it, personally and with my 
company.

Best Regards,
Bernhard

-- 
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