Re: economic efficiency of free software

On Sun, Feb 08, 2004 at 02:25:34AM +0000, Jamie Lokier ([email protected]) wrote:
> ....there are many improvements still possible in
> "forum" technology, such as integrating web and email better, better
> readers etc.

I don't know if better integration of web and email is the answer.  My 
suspicion is that there is a piece(s) missing that will open the door to 
a forum format that will really bang.

A colloquium I recently attended used the paper "Stuff I've Seen" for the 
topic.  Of course, one has to think outside the M$-centric box that is 
framed by that paper but doing so and taking that idea as an accomplished 
tech... OK, what does the system look like now?  What are the implications?
Stuff I've seen implies a personal history.  This in turn implies a system 
that adapts to the user.  When we get to this place then a forum format 
may become obvious.

> If you managed to get payments integrated so that people who submit
> bug reports or feature requests, and/or developers _receive_ a small
> payment for those actions,

Yes, sucessful projects (large and small) are receptive to bug reports and 
to the extent that smaller projects can leverage a bug db service would be 
a good thing.

When I read the above quote I thought of Hans Reiser.  In one of the docs 
in the reiserfs tarball he notes that Namesys will gladly implement 
sponsored features for what are really bargain basement prices.  Less than 
the cost of many SAN and NAS software solutions. (hum... I should have 
thought of this sooner... )
-- 
I think, therefore, ken_i_m
Chief Gadgeteer, Elegant Innovations
Founder, Bozeman Linux Users Group
(406) 581-0495