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List:       kde-promo
Subject:    Re: [kde-promo] Contest: Working version of KOffice 1.5 on Windows,
From:       Kent Nguyen <kent () mslinux ! com>
Date:       2006-05-17 13:52:57
Message-ID: 446B2AB9.30805 () mslinux ! com
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Martijn Klingens wrote:

> On Wednesday 17 May 2006 16:32, Torsten Rahn wrote:
> 
> 
> > From the users/customers point of view this request does not only seem to be
> > reasonable, but also achievable -- although only when pouring a lot of money
> > into it.
> > 
> > 
> 
> Exactly. And $3k is not "a lot of money". Plus, the contest is aiming at 
> tapping into the volunteer community, draining us from valuable contributors.
> 
> 
> 
Your perception is looking at a _fixed_ existing volunteer base of 
KOffice developers.  How many are there today that actually contribute 
codes to KOffice?  How many more potential KOffice developers can you 
recruit from this contest?

People who volunteer their time to work on KOffice are classified under 
these conditions in priority orders:
1)  Paid by a sponsored company such as David Faure and Aaron Seigo.
2)  Commercial motive for contributing.
3)  Don't have a job and has some free time to work on KOffice.
4)  Bored.

The consequence of 1), if the sponsored company no longer provides the 
fund for the person to develop, the person will slow his/her 
contribution time.  I.e. ex-SUSE and ex-Mandrake developers.  The 
consequence of 2), open source projects with momentum will have people 
who contribute hoping to turn what they are doing into something of 
value to the market.  I.e. thekompany who originally contributed to 
Kivio.  The consequence of 3) is quite obvious.  People who originally 
worked on project was offered a job, end up dropping the project because 
of lack of time.  The consequence of 4) is like Linus Torvalds, he has 
nothing better to do with his life than to work on Linux because there 
he can boss people around.

2) and 3) are the potential KOffice developers, there are way more 
people in those categories that are not contributing to KOffice today.  
And that's the population the contest is focused.

The proof to all of this?  The previous KOffice GUI contest did attract 
a number of designers and would-be developer.

Don't underestimate the power of $3,000.  It can produce one of the 
greatest contributor to KOffice.  Be a student in India or a 16 years 
old kid who has nothing better to do with his life than play games.  The 
market is full of potential, and one of the best way to tap it is 
through good competition.







 
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