[mythtv-users] Re: [mythtv] Isaac's unemployment

[Jeff]

At 11:29 PM 3/9/2004 -0500, you wrote:
>K.R. Foley wrote:
>
>>
>>While I agree that some of the things mentioned above would be nice to 
>>have, I wonder if this is one of the reasons that some folks may be 
>>uncomfortable taking donations. Please don't misunderstand, I am not 
>>trying to single out either of the above authors, just replying to get 
>>this in the thread.
>>
>>Is it possible that some folks are uncomfortable with taking donations 
>>because they are afraid that these donations may be used to try to steer 
>>development? I don't think there is anything wrong with a developer 
>>agreeing to prioritize tasks based on donations/bids, but some developers 
>>may not want to go that route. I personally don't think that should be a 
>>reason not to accept donations. Just make it known up front that 
>>donations won't steer development.
>>
>>just my $.02,
>>
>>kr
>I competely agree with kr, I think this notion of a bounty system is a 
>horrible idea and is the opposite of what OSS dev is all about.
>However, I do strongly agree with an option for donating money to a 
>central account as it will do a few things:
>
>1) Help show the support in a monetary way
>2) Help compensate for any costs this project may create
>3) And most of all, provide funding for developers that are writing 
>hardware specific code and/or want to test as much hardware as possible 
>without spending a fortune out of their own pocket
>
>Also, I can see how one (Isaac, for example) taking all the money himself 
>may be in conflict of interest with the rest of the developers working 
>their asses off, but as the father and creator of this project, I think 
>Isaac "does" have the ultimate decision on this matter.
>
>-Drew

I disagree that a bounty system conflicts with what OSS is all about.
A bounty system serves lots of purposes and I think it may be part of what
enables OSS to compete with COTS products. This has been said before but
OSS is not about free as in free beer, its about free as in freedom.

For instance, if I'm using an OSS project to run my organization I may either
not have the funding available to hire a programming staff or I may not be
able to find people with the necessary skill set in my part of the world. 
Does this
mean I shouldn't use an OSS solution? Perhaps OSS is the only thing I can
afford (think third world countries). The bounty system provides a 
mechanism by
which I can "hire others" to do the work that I need. There's no guarantee but
hopefully if my need is general enough, others will "chime" in and 
hopefully it
will get done. If I need it badly enough, perhaps I can fund it entirely 
myself.
Everyone benefits from this work as it becomes part of the OSS code base.
Even OSS programmers need to eat and this may be a mechanism where people
can make a living in the OSS world instead of treating this as a hobby they
spend their spare time on. That can only benefit the OSS software, no?

I'm not saying that a bounty system is right for MythTV, just that I don't 
think
it conflicts with the principles of OSS.