Hello guys, is money coming from companies the only way an open-source project can be financed with?
Regards Fabrizio On Thu, Mar 29, 2012 at 10:13 AM, Miguel Angel Ajo Pelayo <miguelan...@nbee.es> wrote: > Hi Dick, I find good that you share all this with the project so clearly. > > As far as I understand (please correct me if I'm wrong) we must be seeking > for a project maintainer, and better if it gets funded from some > corporation > (that would be the best situation). > > In our case, we're such a little company (2 people) that we're already > doing > more than we can with the scripting, which I'm happy to do it in the > weekends, > and eventually we'll have something stable and nice to include in KiCad at > the right time. > > If I could help in handling the contributed patches, I'd step to the front, > but I > still don't find confident enough about the internal architecture of Kicad > (just > to know if something will work or just will cause trouble...). And also, in > our current > situation we have a very bad lack of man/hours in our little company. > > > Something ideal could be to find a set of companies or corporations > interested in > economically funding kicad (or "kicad foundation") and make things from > there. But this could be complicated at this time I think. Any ideas? > > It's good to know that SoftPLC is interested in offering paid support for > other companies, > because that's something that builds trust about other companies that could > be interested in working with kicad (companies that may end funding..) > > Sincerely, > Mike > > 2012/3/29 Dick Hollenbeck <d...@softplc.com> >> >> It is my fear that the KiCad project has or will soon hit a ceiling with >> regard to >> graceful growth. I fear that without additional corporate funding and >> full time >> coordination of incoming patches, that this ceiling will become very >> visible in the near >> future. >> >> For the last year, I have been a proponent of building in the kinds of >> features which >> would appeal to corporate/institutional users. The reason is that >> corporate users have >> access to funding, in one form or another. Hobbyists cannot propel this >> project beyond >> the near term project structural ceiling that I am forewarning about. >> >> >> This will be a fairly difficult growth spasm to overcome for the project. >> Just >> contributing more patches will only overwhelm a part time organizer/sifter >> of such patches. >> >> >> Linus Torvalds does not work on Linux using his own money, even though he >> originally did. >> There are certain milestones to be expected as a project grows beyond a >> single person. >> Not all projects are destined to succeed with passage beyond each >> milestone. >> >> >> In each of your little contributions of ideas, strategy, and heave forbid, >> genuinely >> tangible contributions, please remember what I am saying. The hobbyist >> who says his >> screen is not big enough may not be as important as the corporate user, >> such as CERN, who >> says they will use it if and when it does XYZ. >> >> >> This month, for the first time, one developer received several thousand >> dollars in funding >> for specific features which were agreed to and requested by a "corporate >> like" funder. >> This is a step in the right direction. But let me emphasize that it came >> about because we >> listened closely to the corporate user. >> >> >> Related to this, without intent to make matters worse, SoftPLC Corporation >> has decided >> today that it will no longer fund the fixing of bugs, nor offer any more >> free support. I >> can be hired to fix bugs and offer support, but won't do it for free >> anymore. >> >> >> To the extent possible, SoftPLC Corporation *will continue* to fund only >> development of >> *new* code. This means no bug fixing, nor support. Since I am often the >> guy who answers >> an initial knock on the door on this mailing list, I think somebody better >> plan on >> stepping up and filling that role immediately. >> >> >> I hope that KiCad can smash through the structural ceiling that I forewarn >> about, but this >> is definitely not a certainty. >> >> Best regards, >> >> Dick >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers >> Post to : kicad-developers@lists.launchpad.net >> Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers >> More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp > > > > > -- > > Miguel Angel Ajo Pelayo > http://www.nbee.es > +34 636 52 25 69 > skype: ajoajoajo > > _______________________________________________ > Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers > Post to : kicad-developers@lists.launchpad.net > Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers > More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp > _______________________________________________ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers Post to : kicad-developers@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
