Thursday, August 18, 2005
Bounties for Free Software developers
Google sponsors the free software. Those interested in some money will have to show their coding skills. I've seen that kind of events before, but this time comes from a company who don't sell or distribute software as its main activity. These kind of incentives mark the start of a new stage in the economics of the IT industry, not just for the free software, and it's good for free software developers, software industry and final users.
Until now, a lot of free software efforts have been sparse, divided because there are a lot of developers that work on small programs that solve their specific needs, or it may be that they are not involved with the technologies that drive the big pieces of software.
I see these initiatives as a positive force that pulls the sparse efforts towards the mass-market technologies, towards the unsolved issues, bugs or new features, that nobody else have picked up. It's a glue that integrates efforts.
Micro-HOWTO-GetInvolvedForSmallCompanies (just an idea):
Start releasing your technologies as free software, and put bounties for those who come with a solution for your developments. That will sane your economy, your software will be widely tested (and fixed), and your user base will grow-up as much as the benefits of your software. Your best clients will be companies with strong economy that require support for your software (manuals, ad-hoc plugins, conectivity to other systems, etc.). In the other hand, the small companies that today are your clients may left you, as long as your software are free, but they will keep being part of your user base, and could help you spread your goods. Start releasing small pieces of software (good enough to attract users), in order to test the response of the community (and clients), later you'll want to release your best code.
Bravo Google! ¶ 11:46 PM
Until now, a lot of free software efforts have been sparse, divided because there are a lot of developers that work on small programs that solve their specific needs, or it may be that they are not involved with the technologies that drive the big pieces of software.
I see these initiatives as a positive force that pulls the sparse efforts towards the mass-market technologies, towards the unsolved issues, bugs or new features, that nobody else have picked up. It's a glue that integrates efforts.
Micro-HOWTO-GetInvolvedForSmallCompanies (just an idea):
Start releasing your technologies as free software, and put bounties for those who come with a solution for your developments. That will sane your economy, your software will be widely tested (and fixed), and your user base will grow-up as much as the benefits of your software. Your best clients will be companies with strong economy that require support for your software (manuals, ad-hoc plugins, conectivity to other systems, etc.). In the other hand, the small companies that today are your clients may left you, as long as your software are free, but they will keep being part of your user base, and could help you spread your goods. Start releasing small pieces of software (good enough to attract users), in order to test the response of the community (and clients), later you'll want to release your best code.
Bravo Google! ¶ 11:46 PM
