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List:       kde-devel
Subject:    Re: Allow money donations for precise bugs
From:       "C.M.Lotion" <cmlotion () wanadoo ! nl>
Date:       2005-03-16 1:31:41
Message-ID: 200503152031.49386.cmlotion () wanadoo ! nl
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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 something
> 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  
(power) users? KDE has a great framework and cool community. Users don't 
necessarily have to be dissatisfied to start contributing to development of 
the desktop or any other part of KDE as a whole. 

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

Furthermore, I don't think donations for precise bugs would really help. I do 
think that KDE would benefit from more full-time developers, promo-people, 
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 
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 
say. If everybody would donate say $5 a month, so $60 a year, wouldn't we 
already have $6,000,000 a year to spend on full-time developers, material and 
people that are needed for supporting the project, such as a webmaster, 
promo-team etc.? 

Who should be the full time developers? People can formally apply via kde.org 
and present their resumé and a letter of motivation. Criteria? A pretty 
conventional list of requirements: work experience, qualifications, obvious 
dedication and motivation, and social skills. I would start of with the 
project coordinators for core KDE parts if they want to. Who should decide? 
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 feeling 
that they get their money's worth. (Example: I'm all excited about the 
upcoming SuSE 9.3 release and can hardly wait to tear open that new box of 
goodies, that will even include KDE 3.4!) 

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

Kind regards,

Claire

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