[ox-en] New economic model for free technology?
- From: Karel Kulhavy <clock twibright.com>
- Date: Wed, 21 Sep 2005 20:28:06 +0200
Hello
I once got upset by a guy who took my Ronja, changed the mechanics and
started to sell people without giving them source code for the mechanics
although it was against the spirit of GPL licence.
So I decided to change Ronja development so each time I develop some
module I will calculate the cost (work + material) and then publicize
that "I have this and this for so many money" and ask people to send
donations and when enough donations is received, release the item under
GPL (and not release it at all before collecting enough money).
It showed to work (slowly, but works):
http://ronja.twibright.com/credits.php
The total collected by Twibright Ronja until now is 2874 USD. Already
4 modules were released for it.
We tried the same on Twibright Links and there we collected the same
way 740 USD.
Each contributor is listed on the website and his contribution is
assigned to particular item (so he can say everywhere - do you see that
famous project's device there on the roof? The preamplifier development
is paid by me!).
I think this can be extended to any project and if it works fast enough
(that means much faster than on Ronja), then he can become full-time
employed on free software project.
The remaining issue is whether it's tax category is gifts or service
income, but that's just a bureaucratical detail.
CL<
_________________________________
Web-Site: http://www.oekonux.org/
Organization: http://www.oekonux.de/projekt/
Contact: projekt oekonux.de