Re: Paying developers to get features faster

From: Ben Theil (noname_at_nowhere.net)
Date: 01/22/04 

Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2004 08:24:57 -0600

Steve Holdoway <steve@itemfront.ltd.uk> wrote in
news:67ut00hjvt277bfcb7hnj8uag0u7di531b@4ax.com:

> On Wed, 21 Jan 2004 21:41:54 GMT, Ben Theil <noname@nowhere.net>
> wrote:
>>
>>
>>http://www.newsforge.com/programming/03/12/16/1557216.shtml?tid=25
>
> interesting article on how some software houses base their products on
> existing Open Source, rather than starting from scratch.
>>
>>
>>This has once been suggested a few times before on the Internet. I do
>>think it is a very good idea!
>>
>>
>>Accept it or not, the truth is that the Open Source developer will not
>>hang on to the same project for the rest of his/her life. If there is
>>a better opportunity he/she will leave their "baby" for the world to
>>take care of it. A crude analogy would be someone doing odd jobs for
>>whatever reason. Once there is a better opportunity, the odd job is
>>history. Open Source developing is more like an "odd" job for these
>>programmers. Whatever great things that they have contributed should
>>be cleaned up. With giving some financial reward it can be
>>accomplished. For example the GNOME's "Bounty" system is a great idea
>>to add features to a product!
>
> As most people currently develop because they want to, the code that
> is generated is of a far higher quality than most commercial products,
> where people develop what they're told. OK, real life gets in the way,
> but you're never going to make a living out of it are you. So the
> difference is between unpaid and paid work that you do in your spare
> time. Which one will be of better quality???

If the code that is to be cleaned up is done in a weeks time, ($100 for
discussion sake) is a lot of money in one week. They can move on to
other projects with similar rewards. It adds up. The developers can
clean up the code and make a living or have it as a secondary job.

Code Documentation, is for the longevity of the application. Someone
asked, why document each line of the code. When the open source
developer disappears with his new found girlfriend or boyfriend, there
should be someone to carry on the torch. Atleast each function should be
documented about the inputs, outputs and functionality.

>>great deal. I am sure that if a 1000 Linux users around the world
>>give $1 each to clean up code in the Linux Kernel or GNOME or KDE,
>>then that is $1000 prize amount. That is a LOT of money for a
>>teenager in Germany or a small group of progammers in India. Everyone

The people who have contributed money to a project fund get to vote on
who contributed most to the project. The money is paid thru PayPal or
something like that. If the money has to be divided between different
coders, it is the contributers choice to do so.

We can already rate the applications at sourceforge.net. Why not rate
the developers and reward them accordingly?

The above article's theme brings us closer to getting secure systems and
secure applications. The developers have to be rewarded in some form or
the other. It is a fair thing to do.

BT

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Paying developers to get features faster
    ... > existing Open Source, ... With giving some financial reward it can be ... discussion sake) is a lot of money in one week. ... the developers and reward them accordingly? ...
    (comp.os.linux.misc)
  • Re: Paying developers to get features faster
    ... > existing Open Source, ... With giving some financial reward it can be ... discussion sake) is a lot of money in one week. ... the developers and reward them accordingly? ...
    (comp.os.linux.development.system)
  • Re: Paying developers to get features faster
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