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On Tuesday 15 March 2005 11:56, Dirk Mueller wrote:
> On Tuesday 15 March 2005 17:15, Fred P. wrote:
> > - It's more important to have developpers than users.
> >   [KDE can evolve with developpers, but can't without them]
>
> Which is wrong.. KDE can not evolve without users. developers don't fall
> from the sky.. they're users first, and they're dissatisfied with somethi=
ng
> but still like the concept, so they start modifying things. Thats how
> opensource works.

Yeah, I agree. Where would KDE get new developers if it would not get new =
=20
(power) users? KDE has a great framework and cool community. Users don't=20
necessarily have to be dissatisfied to start contributing to development of=
=20
the desktop or any other part of KDE as a whole.=20

I for one, consider KDE (and Linux) the best thing that ever happened to me=
=20
computerwise, and don't mind sharing the cute wonders and cool features of=
=20
KDE with anybody who wants to give it a try. Potential enthusiasts are=20
potential users are potential contributors are potential developers ;).

=46urthermore, I don't think donations for precise bugs would really help. =
I do=20
think that KDE would benefit from more full-time developers, promo-people,=
=20
etc. I'm sensing a Robots vibe here - "See a need, fill a need...?"

Perhaps someone can help me on this:
Starter B.Sc. engineering job as project admin: approx. $35,000 a year
Starter M.Sc. engineering job as project admin: approx. $50,000 a year=20
KDE servers, promo material, etc.: approx. $15,000 a year ??

How large is the worldwide KDE community? Definitely over a 100,000 users I=
'd=20
say. If everybody would donate say $5 a month, so $60 a year, wouldn't we=20
already have $6,000,000 a year to spend on full-time developers, material a=
nd=20
people that are needed for supporting the project, such as a webmaster,=20
promo-team etc.?=20

Who should be the full time developers? People can formally apply via kde.o=
rg=20
and present their resum=C3=A9 and a letter of motivation. Criteria? A prett=
y=20
conventional list of requirements: work experience, qualifications, obvious=
=20
dedication and motivation, and social skills. I would start of with the=20
project coordinators for core KDE parts if they want to. Who should decide?=
=20
Perhaps the community via a tightly secured voting system?

As we can all see, people don't mind paying, as long as they have the feeli=
ng=20
that they get their money's worth. (Example: I'm all excited about the=20
upcoming SuSE 9.3 release and can hardly wait to tear open that new box of=
=20
goodies, that will even include KDE 3.4!)=20

Obviously, a lot of KDE developers would not mind working on the KDE projec=
t=20
to make a decent living or just as a side job. Does anybody think it would =
be=20
possible to achieve something like this? Just a thought that crossed my=20
mind...

Kind regards,

Claire

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