Acknowledging Great Free Software 281
banuaba writes: "I am a Windows user. I've tried a couple of distros of Linux, and a BSD or two, but they aren't what I need in an OS. Sometimes in my job and my personal 'life' I need something with a little more power than Windows can give me, and when that time comes, I use Cygwin and have been wholly satisfied and enamored with the product they put out. My question for all you Slashdotters out there is this: I would like to 'reward' the Cygwin people for giving me a great product that fits my needs, but aside from an 'attaboy' email, I don't see how I could compensate them, preferrably financially. I don't have any coding skills of significance, and am not inclined to learn, I'd just like a way to let them know that I like what they've done. In the non-free (as in beer) software world, I would buy their next release. Is there any way to financially help them along? Should I just mail them a check? Would that be insulting to OSS developers, as a general rule? How or would you slashdotters who work on GPL'd code like to be compensated for your time and effort?"
The GNU Project maintains the Cygwin documentation; they have a whole page of ways you can help their efforts to spread Free software, which includes sending money, but quite a few other things, too.
I like Alan Cox's system of CD donations, but I've not met any developers yet who would be offended by a donation in money, bug-fixes, hardware, or positive word of mouth. Does anyone have interesting suggestions for thanking Free software developers?
It's a commercial product - buy it. (Score:2)
It's a commercial product, which needs revenue to Red Hat's cygwin pages [redhat.com].
Disclaimer: I work for the company producing it (Red Hat, Inc).
Walk a Mile (Score:3, Insightful)
What could you possibly receive from a pleased user that would make you ignore all of the bad parts and think, "I'm gonna keep this thing going"?
Send that.
Re:Walk a Mile (Score:2)
Yeah, but could you imagine what FedEx would charge for a crate of naked slave girls?
Re:Walk a Mile (Score:2)
Well, obviously less than they could without the additional weight of clothing, but still significant for an overnight package... figure roughly 110-120 lb. each, which could go up or down depending on the particular tastes of the beneficiaries...
P2P Beer System (Score:3, Funny)
Beer addresses should be included in the documentation
uubp (Unix-to-Unix beer protocol) (Score:2, Funny)
Personally... (Score:5, Interesting)
If you want to make the developer(s) feel good, send them an attaboy email. If you want to contribute and don't want to learn to code, send them an attaboy email and a cheque, or a case of interesting beer -- or maybe make a contribution to a charity they wish to support. An email saying "I really enjoy your software a lot, and I'd like to thank you for it -- are there any charities you particularly feel kindly for?" alleviates any possibilities that people would be offended by a cheque (though I don't know of any people who would, personally).
But really, unless the people you're trying to thank are really overloaded, actual user contact is very rewarding. Knowing that people use and enjoy your software is one of the main reasons I develop Free Software.
Offended by money? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Offended by money? (Score:2, Insightful)
Would you be offended if if money was specifically offered to you for making a certain feature the donor needs? I know I wouldn't. Though if it's as strange as most of the features usually requested by clients, it wouldn't make it into the main code base :-)
Re:Offended by money? (Score:2)
Of course, in the free/open source software arena, popularity doesn't impose too great a burden on the developer (other than spikes in download traffic, and a higher volume of bug reports, fix/enhancement requests, etc.) Web stuff unfortunately costs more to run as it becomes more popular. :)
Re:Offended by money? (Score:2)
I have to agree, I definitely wouldn't say no to money. Although I must say I also like the pizza idea from the Samba people. Not much beats money though. Never gotten any though of course.
Spread the word! (Score:2)
Microsoft are unleashing a huge FUD campain against Open source software. Good news doesn't travel at all well in this age (unless it involves cute animals or kids), so spreading the word (without going OTT) is the best plan.
Word of mouth is a powerful medium, often under-rated - look at film reviews - a critically panned film can be a huge success just on word of mouth,
Anything is good (Score:2)
I just started working on a project [sourceforge.net] (I know, shamless plug) a month or so ago. Have not publicized it but in just one place, and am amazed at the number of positive emails and the number of downloads so far.
That said, the emails I like the most are the ones with either code or suggestions. So far one person has sent in a code snippet and three have sent in some really killer ideas - that is the kind of stuff I like! I mean, I am writing the program for me, but I am not the only one using it.
So send in those attaboy emails. Ask if there is something you can do to help. I personally don't care if you are a programmer or not - there are a ton of things you can do to help, mainly in the realm of minutia; that stuff can really be a drag to do but it needs to be done and in some cases those small little things are the biggest part of a project.
Purchasing Decision Payback (Score:3, Interesting)
What I did to do my part to pay those hardworking cygwin folks back was get my organization to purchase $7500 worth of their software. We had a little extra cash left on one of our research budgets, and were and need of a compiler for the ARM microcontroller. I recommended purchasing GNUPro Tools, which includes gcc. Yeah, I know it's freely available, and that I could cross-compile, but do the accounting people need to know that? So, in short, get your organization to buy some freely-available software, and send them a six-pack for good measure.
---
octave + distributed.net + matlab*P = community-supported-interactive-supercomputing
Compensation (Score:2, Insightful)
For smaller OS developers (Score:2, Interesting)
When a project is maintained/coded by a sole person, ever thought of donating some computer *hardware* to the cause? Maybe that "old" Athlon 500 isn't useful to you, but for someone else, it might come in handy. For a sole developer, especially someone doing it in his or her part time, why don't you drop him/her an email and offer some old equipment. In a simular vein, you could offer web hosting if the project needs a website, or (more labor intensive) help them on their documentation or FAQs, after all, you can help out OSS even if you don't have coding skills.
Just my $.02
Which reminds me. Why doesn't someone with decent graphical skills and some time on his/her hands drop the coder of eagle eye nethack a line and offer to increase the number of images. Last time I played the game, I was hampered by the lack of images, with several monsters/items having the same image. Of course, my graphical skills suck, I don't even trust myself to do color shifting to make an iron/steel sword into a bronze sword, but someone must have the skills and the time.
Free Software is a philosophy methinks.. (Score:2, Interesting)
The answer is simple: Don't send them money and don't feel bad for using their great software, as though it's worth money and you got away with some naughty act in the privacy of your home where no one but your conscience watches over you.
The best thing you can do for them is to:
1. Use their software.
2. Contribute to their software (if you can.)
3. Don't support their commercial competitors.
4. Spread the word about their software in particular. There's enough religious zealots as it is--don't add your voice to zealotry, add it instead to the promotion of good, specific packages.
The whole concept of money in exchange for software seems to me to fly in the face of what they're striving for to begin with.
Supporting an organization as a whole and acknowledging the fact that it costs money to operate or even exist is another matter entirely, while a human being who has chosen to write free software without doing something to make money for themselves doesn't really "get" what's going on around us. Giving him money means he might as well have not released his software under the GPL at all.
On the other hand, the FSF is a foundation that does more than write software--and thus depends on donations to even exist--that's its whole premise from the get-go.
Small difference but important.
Re:Free Software is a philosophy methinks.. (Score:2, Insightful)
I think you're confusing "freely redistributable" with "free of charge".
Open Software's objective is to make computer related intellectual property common property as much as possible. That is a good thing. It's not a stated objective to have people always starving, or even going unrewarded for their work.
Some of the forms of those rewards are public accolades, some of them the companies that (still) make money doing Open Source software hiring people, but there's nothing wrong with donations to programmers in general. Some might not want it, but that doesn't mean none of them do.
What most OSS coders want... (Score:2, Funny)
Oh, and .. (Score:5, Informative)
OSS programmers != superheroes (Score:5, Insightful)
Ask them ... Samba dev's like pizza! (Score:4, Interesting)
Your best bet is always asking... if you really want to make them happy, make sure you're getting them what they want.
Re:OSS programmers != superheroes (Score:3, Interesting)
Funny, the non-Free software competitor costs c. US$50. I only wish I could have afforded to pay more.
Re:OSS programmers != superheroes (Score:3, Funny)
Check Number 0001
Pay to the order of: OSS Hacker
Amount: Forty-Dollars - 40.00$
Singed: Anonymous Coward
Memo: First Ch3ck!
Re:I take a debian developer out once a week :) (Score:2)
GNUPro (Score:5, Informative)
Let them know you use their stuff (Score:2)
What I want more than anything else from people who use my stuff is to hear from them that they are using what I have written. Free software authors write free software for many reasons, but for many authors the biggest motivation is the thought that they are added something great to the world. Drop the authors a note of thanks and praise and let them know you are actually using their stuff and what you are using it for. You'd be amazed how few people who download a piece of free software do that.
As far as giving money/pizza/beer, sure, if you are so moved, why not? But don't forget that many free software authors are already being paid to write the software they write, even if the software is not, in and of itself, intended as a commercial good.
Cygwin is Owned by Red Hat, Right? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Cygwin is Owned by Red Hat, Right? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Cygwin is Owned by Red Hat, Right? (Score:2)
Just buy a box or two of...
No, never do that to anybody. Just send them money. It will keep aluminized plastic and cardboard out of the landfill. It will be almost pure profit for the company.
Re:Cygwin is Owned by Red Hat, Right? (Score:2)
This is harder than you would think. I wanted to send RedHat some dough after I upgraded to 7.1. After more than a half-dozen calls and emails, I gave up. I never could convince them to just charge my credit card; it was always on some grand poobah's list of things to do, but they apparently never got around to it.
If anybody from RedHat reads this and is empowered to take my dough, drop me a line.
Reduce, Reuse, then Recycle (Score:2)
Better yet, buy boxed Cygwin (Score:2)
> Just buy a box or two of Red Hat Linux
Better yet, just buy boxed Cygwin [cygnus.com].
Re:Supporting RedHat (Score:2)
Subscribe to Red Hat Network [redhat.com], then...
There could be premiums -- a mouse pad autographed by Alan Cox
Can't help you with that ATM - but if a "Windows sucks" note autographed by myself will do the job...
RedHat Network (Score:2)
Free as in beer... (Score:5, Funny)
Not just this that isn't insulting... (Score:2)
Gratification (Score:4, Funny)
I'd just like a way to let them know that I like what they've done
Well, let's see, what do you look like in a thong?
charity (Score:3, Interesting)
http://www.vim.org/
and donations to childrens fund in Uganda
If I developed software... (Score:5, Funny)
Simply because I code for the love of it, not for the money. Hell, I live out of a 2-story carboard box, code on an old 386 laptop weighing a hefty 50 pounds, and eat sewer trash for meals. And you know what, that Ferrari I bought during the dot-com fiasco just isn't fun to drive anymore. So please don't send me money, just send a simple chain email around the world 50 times to let me know that I have many, many friends.
(Money an insult? You have got to be kidding me! - or smoking some really good weed)
Re:If I developed software... (Score:2)
Looxury...
You Mean, You Just Ask Them? (Score:5, Funny)
More OSS developers need to be proactive when it comes to getting $. People shouldn't have to ask this question. I think developers would be surprised if they used a little line that said something like "you don't need to, but it'd be appreciated if you sent a check to... ".
It's amazing what you can get sometimes just by asking. Anybody who's read Feynman should get the humorous reference in the title of this post.
Re:You Mean, You Just Ask Them? (Score:2, Insightful)
As an example of the sort of difference this can make, consider the case of Steve Outtrim and Sausage Software. I used to work for Sausage Software back in 1996
Sausage's main product was shareware. (I know I know, but just for the sake of argument, consider this case.)
The thing was - instead of saying 'please send a cheque or money order to foo' it said, 'unlock this product by buying a key at our online store'. At that stage online credit card processing was not all that common (1995).
But doing that was, I believe, the main difference between Steve being just another VB shareware developer and his becoming a multi-millionaire. Quite literally, this guy was worth 90 million dollars last time i saw a newspaper article - this largely through sales of shares in the company whose single major success was a shareware HTML editor (HotDog)
I'm not suggesting that OSS developers are the same as Shareware developers. But I think a lot of people would be suprised by how many people actually use there products out there in the wide world.
So being proactive will probably make a *big* difference.
-- I have I think, I do. Didn't I?
A noble solution? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:A noble solution? (Score:2)
Re:A noble solution? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:A noble solution? (Score:2, Funny)
No, destroying copyrighted works is not illegal. Maybe if you use a special chalk (you might need to invent that, though) that shows some crappy image normally and another image when soap is applied, then the soap might qualify as a circumvention device.
Oh, and don't forget to patent that Content Scrambling Soap!
Again? (Score:2)
First the 'attaboy' (Score:4, Informative)
Don't sell the 'attaboy' email short. It's a great motivation to get some feedback beyond "You suck!" and "It doesn't work. Do I need Windows 2000?" For most small-time developers, it's probably more of an inducement to keep working than a $10 check would be. And it costs you othing but time, so be lavish!
Not that anyone would likely be offended by money.
uh, you could buy their product... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:uh, you could buy their product... (Score:2, Insightful)
peanuts (Score:2)
In the non-free (as in beer) software world, that's ~3 MSDN Universal subscriptions.
I call that a bargain... --The Who.
If I ever get a budget, it'll be the first license I buy. Cygwin is an outstanding toolkit. Amaze your friends! Turn your word-processor into a WORKING COMPUTER! Compile and run GNU software on Winblows!
Re:uh, you could buy their product... (Score:2, Funny)
Feedback (Score:4, Insightful)
When the downloads increase, they'll be thanking you.
sourceforge and donations (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't see any reason why sourceforge and freshmeat or other sites like it could not handle donations, or rather tips for certain projects.
I know that if it was as simple as putting my credit card # in and selecting a project, and tipping $5, i'd have already done it many times. This could all be very easy.
Re:sourceforge and donations (Score:2)
Send the check to me! (Score:2)
Documentation (Score:5, Insightful)
PS - Use the FDL
Re:Documentation (Score:2)
How's about you look over at www.beer.com (Score:5, Funny)
Bawls would be better. (Score:2, Informative)
OFFENDED (Score:2, Funny)
As a Muslim and a longtime user developer of GNU/Linux, I am offended by your American cultural imperialism. My religion forbids the sonsumption of alcohol! Please attempt to honor the wishes of those who gvie their time to make software for you!
I would like any donations to me instead be made to charitable organization such as:
the PLO [www.plo.pl]
kill [brain.net.pk]
Muslim Aid [muslimaid.org]
The Nation of Islam [olsentwins.com]
Thank you.
Re:How's about you look over at www.beer.com (Score:2)
Re:How's about you look over at www.beer.com (Score:2)
Not everybody can possess or consume beer (Score:2, Funny)
I think most coders will agree with me when I say, "Send those guys/girls a case of beer!"
Some jurisdictions have a minimum drinking age. In the United States it's 21. In Saudi Arabia it's (i.e. Prohibition).
Re:How's about you look over at www.beer.com (Score:2)
So, yeah, free booze, but ask...
So let's pool all the free booze we're going to get out of this story and host the First Annual Intergalactic Kegger...
Beer is good (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Beer is good (Score:2)
Re:Beer is good (Score:2)
I find it really saddening that nobody found this funny, yet numerous people found it "Informative". More than likely it shows that the herd follows a few crazy people. (*cough* kinda like religion)
Regarding the song lyric, that's a pure coincidence; I don't like Placebo anyways...
Re:Beer is good (Score:3, Funny)
Imagine Dwayne, and imaginary nerd. He sees you post, and thinks, "this dude sounds like an expert." He calls Mr. Smiley on the phone, and 30 minutes later, has his first baggie of weed delivered to his door.
So, he gets the delivery boy to roll it, and ten minutes later they're both high as a kite. Next thing he knows, he feels loose and relaxed. And Hungry! So he walks over to the 7-11 for some munchies, and runs across a hot hot girl. Relaxed by the weed, he actually..... talks to her! Next thing he knows, he's got a girlfriend, he's finally had -sex- and he's experienced the joys of Ms. Jane.
Of course it's +1 informative
Re:Beer is good (Score:2, Funny)
maybe +1 funny is b0rked?
Re:How's about you look over at www.beer.com (Score:2)
And of course, Dennis Hopper would say differently..."Heineken?!?! Fsck that sh*t! Pabst Blue Ribbon!!!"
I'm glad at least someone discovered... (Score:2)
"Oh, I don't like beer"..."Oh, I'm not of legal age"..."Oh, my god doesn't let me drink beer"...blah, blah, blah...
I'm sure they'd accept cheques (Score:3, Insightful)
Donations (Score:2)
The LinuxPPC project [linuxppc.com] also encourages donations to the FSF -- when you order their stuff online, there's a box where you can enter any amount you'd like to donate.
I'm probably sounding like more of a fan of the FSF than I really am here -- sometimes RMS grates me in the profoundest way -- but I just think this is what fits your desires best. There's nothing excessively material and unworthy about donating cash; many organizations make good use of it and will be deeply grateful. If that's a way for you to get a warm, fuzzy feeling, go do it. The fuzzies will surely come right back at you.
One word: duh (Score:2)
Re:One word: duh (Score:2)
Re:One word: duh (Score:2, Funny)
How 'bout you just send me a hundred bucks and we'll call it even?
:-)
Paypal (Score:2)
Cool idea... (Score:2, Interesting)
See, here's the thing... I make out okay in the money and beer department, but I don't always have the money to pay for cool geek toys. Find a cool geek toy that's roughly in the price range you're thinking, preferably one that you can verify or guess that they don't have. If its linux compatible and/or can help them continue developing, then that's even better!
Some quick ideas in the under $100 range:
That's it I could come up with... any other ideas?
Small Joke (Score:2)
personally (Score:2)
Re:personally (Score:5, Funny)
Andrew
Re:personally (Score:2, Funny)
Re:personally (Score:2)
Re:personally (Score:5, Insightful)
Money would mean a lot to both kinds of projects, but would probably be more appropriate for a larger project. Praise and telling-your-friends-about-project-x is good for smaller projects. However, if you can code (which I know the author of the article can't), that is the biggest contribution to any project.
"Attaboy" as well ... (Score:2)
Money isn't the issue (Score:2, Insightful)
And money isn't the only way to thank someone; a grateful user once had a couple cases of Dew delivered to me, and I was thrilled (though in general it might be best yo avoid gifts like caffeine or programming tools, as it might be interpreted as "thanks for the software, now work harder!"). If you're unsure what to get for your favorite coder/group, write them! Even if they won't accept anything in return, just knowing that you'd like to will give them a sense of accomplishment about their work (making your software free-as-in-beer isn't as meaningful if it's not something people would pay for
Always remember that "just an email" is never just an email. OSS developers have dedicated an often-significant portion of their lives to producing something they know they may never be appreciated for. It's nice to know when people do appreciate it.
speaking of beer (Score:2, Informative)
Donate to The GNU Project?? (Score:2)
Support the development with Development Resources (Score:2, Interesting)
Another way is to do something for the community, which everyone would love. For instance, help purchase and colocate a server for the community to develop on. Or host a social for the developers to meet and drink beer together. Or help purchase tshirts for everyone to get.
The best way, IMHO, to show support for an OSS community is to help keep it live and vibrant.
talli
Simple proposal (Score:3, Insightful)
STOP USING WINDOWS.
Zealotry aside, the fact that you and a lot of other people use Windows, helps the people who constantly damage what we make and love, so by refusing to support them even if it is 3% more convenient for you than, say, Linux or *BSD, you help to hurt us, and there isn't much else that can compensate this. Next time when some hideous API will create horrible incompatibilities with our software, when part of format will get patented, or when frivolous lawsuit will be brought against some of us, we won't think about praise or money we got from you, we will just think that by using Windows you have added to their dominance and paved the road that they are marching on. It's not like we hate you personally for that, but we would appreciate if you will refuse to help our enemies.
Re:Simple proposal (Score:2)
Re:Simple proposal (Score:2)
I just pointed out that Cygnus people, within Red Hat or not, are not working on cygwin as only a part of their development of GNU utilities -- the comment that I am answering to implied that cygwin is their main project.
Cygnus did not write gcc. I believe that was RMS. Red Hat/Cygnus does contribute a lot to the gcc and gdb projects but they did not write these programs and do not own these programs.
Most of work on gcc is now being done by Cygnus.
Cygwin was written by Cygnus employees (hence the name) but, like any successful free software endeavor, it's grown far from its humble beginnings.
A port is a port. A port to the environment as hostile as Windows may be a difficult undertaking, but it's still derived from the same gnu utilities that are still in active development .
Re:Simple proposal (Score:2)
Are you suggesting that Cygwin is a port of some other package? Ports are made from source code - if I described WINE as a port of win32, I suspect few folk would agree with me - WINE was created from scratch.
Cygwin is a port of GNU tools to Windows -- that happened to be done by Cygnus, the same people who wrote most of those tools in the first place. The only difference from Unix version is that port to Windows was made much later, and involved more pain than versions for any other OS. Everything in Cygwin that is not in your usual GNU tools (which BTW happen to be a large piece of any Linux distribution) is done with one goal -- to make them work on Windows.
Likewise Cygwin is not a port of anything. Cygwin is a standalone .dll, custom built to provide various unix and POSIX API calls.
DLL is only a small part of the package -- see their own description [redhat.com].
hmm funny this... (Score:2)
How the hell do I get rid of that wasteful multiline prompt that Cygwin gives me?
Is this basH? baj!! bah!!!
Someone let me know the answer, then I might appreciate.
Moderators: Offtopic: No, Funny: No, Informative: No, Insightful: Only if you Know, Troll: Don't be stupid, leave the rest to you idiots.
I don't need money, I need information (Score:2, Interesting)
The prefered payment method of kings! (OT) (Score:2)
If you're reading this thread and are a moderator, please moderate me DOWN, just so I know. I've even used a +1 bonus to make it easier to find. However, if you've come to this message some other way than by reading this thread (such as from my user page), or if you aren't moderating, instead you can reply to this message.
Thanks!
Marvin
Re:worst ... (Score:2)
Answer: Fortune and glory, sweetheart. Fortune and glory.
Re:worst ... (Score:3, Funny)
Fortune and glory, sweetheart. Fortune and glory.