Re: individually funded development

X.Org has been using contractors to maintain the SI.  As with any project,
using contractors can be a problem however. 

You need to have a well defined objective, and/or in most cases a design that
is hard to argue with.  If you miss these steps, your funding will vaporize 
very fast.  As Mark says "It's kindof hard to convert money into code though.",
and I would say that it's hard to convert money in to 'lots o' code'.

Jay

Mark Vojkovich wrote:
> 
>    Historically, XFree86 has needed developers more than it has
> needed finacial support.  Our current board does pretty well
> at keeping the bills paid, and donations of hardware from individuals
> has been useful.  It's kindof hard to convert money into code
> though.
> 
>                         Mark.
> 
> On Tue, 25 Mar 2003, COFFMAN Steven wrote:
> 
> > Hi,
> > I've contributed two video cards to driver maintainers in the past by
> > figuring out who wrote drivers for similar cards, contacting them
> > individually, and mailing them the same card I had, no strings attached.
> > One produced a working driver, the other did not, and I was fine with
> > both outcomes.
> >
> > Is there an easier or better way for individual users such as myself to
> > directly assist XFree86 development financially? Where could I send my
> > money that would be useful? Xfree86.org? DRI? Tungsten Graphics?
> > Individual developers? What would be a minimum contribution to cover the
> > overhead of accepting such donations?
> >
> > I recognize this could be problematic. Some cards have insufficient
> > technical documentation even if earmarked funds are contributed.
> > Earmarked contributions may be insufficient to cover even purchasing the
> > hardware for testing. Earmarked funds do nothing for sponsoring unknown
> > future innovations. A funded, well-intentioned developer may not deliver
> > driver for a variety of reasons.
> >
> > Or do you recommend that I only indirectly support XFree86 by purchasing
> > the boxed packages that are produced by companies that sponsor XFree86
> > development?
> >
> > No offense intended by this. I appreciate the dedicated effort that many
> > volunteers have put forward without any renumeration, and of the
> > contributions made by those who did so as work for corporations.
> >
> > -Steve
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Forum mailing list
> > [email protected]
> > http://XFree86.Org/mailman/listinfo/forum
> >
> 
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