Re: [HACKERS] Raising funds for PostgreSQL

While I have no doubt such an idea for $$ for open source code development
would fly, my initial reaction would be opposed to it because I think the
overall effect would be to pollute the long-term purity of the open source
pgsql development effort by incenting short-sighted development to earn
cash.  Quality controls can never keep up.  Here's a bit more on my
perspective...

[long-winded self-important soapboxing hilosphical flame suit on]

I am a software developer who has benefitted tremendously from open source
software.  Linux, Apache, Perl, SSL, PostgreSQL, GIMP...hundreds if not
thousands of pieces of open-source software.  I have come to realize this
at a very gut level.  We're talking about many, many years (hundreds?
thousands?) of labor via open source.  Though not in cash, I have been
"paid" in value many times over via open source software.  As a result of a
clear understanding that I along with everyone else will ultimately
benefit, I have a very personal and growing commitment to give back to the
open source movement.  I do that by spending some of my personal time
helping others use these tools via forums, newsgroups, etc., by providing
feedback to developers, by providing bug fixes/patches/enhancements to open
source software where I can, and by generating open source software for
others.

What strikes me about open source development is that it is some of the
cleanest, purest development around.  By that, I mean only that there is
far less of the sense of "doing the absolute minimum to get the money" that
is so prevalent in private for-profit corporations who will live or die by
next quarter's results and the short-term assessment of value-add by
shareholders.  If you hang around these open source development forums for
very long and know much about how software design decisions often get made
in the corporate software world, you will notice a powerful design slant
toward longer-term vision as opposed to the tyranny of the urgent that
usually presides in the corporate environment.  While I love the free
market and see a lot of validity to the free market theory behind the
market-driven corporate software development, I also think it is quite rare
that software developed under such circumstances has such benefit to the
world at large while also having the exponential opportunities to grow and
spread by the worldwide efforts of others.  MS Excel is, IMO, probably the
most productive piece of software in existence.  But it will always be
constrained by the fortunes of Microsoft or the holder of the intellectual
property rights.  Open source, on the other hand, has the potential to
propagate indefinitely to benefit people everywhere indefinitely, because
it is free to grow.  Both approaches seem valdi/important, and I think
there is a needed balance between proprietary nature of the private sector,
and the open source movement.  It is a fine balance, and it is none too
clear on how to best draw it.  It is a very complex issue with many sides.
Personally, I think it's quite related to many of the great debates of all
time, such as capitalism vs socialism vs communism, even the inherent
nature of human kind.  But I digress. :)

But what is clear to me is that there is a lot of open source decision
making going on which is in the public's best interest.  I don't have much
confidence that this would remain so if the proposal below played out.

[flame suit off]

Cheers.
Ed


Kyle Bateman wrote:

> I talked to Marc several months ago about the possibility of setting up
> a system for raising money from commercial users of PostgreSQL kind of
> like the "Street Performer Protocol" explained at:
>
> http://www.counterpane.com/street_performer.html
>
> It would basically allow people to view the todo list and to offer a bid
> on various features and enhancements.  At the same time, developers (you
> guys) could bid on doing the actual work.  When the bid pool on a
> certain enhancement got large enough to fund a work bid, the enhancement
> could be done and the developer could actually get paid for his work.
>
> As a commercial user of PostgreSQL, I would be interested in throwing a
> certain number of $$ at various problems/features of the software.  If
> others feel the same way, maybe we could accelerate the development
> process and make it more fun for the people doing the actual work.
>
> Is anyone interested in this kind of thing?  Or are financial interests
> not really the objective for most of the developers?