I have been kicking around an idea that I'd like some feedback on. The Cygwin/XFree86 project is at the point where it is nearly a replacement for the commercial X Servers for Microsoft Windows. There remain only a few features that need to be implemented in order for most businesses to find Cygwin/XFree86 a viable alternative to the commercial X Servers out there:
1) Mutliple windows support. 2) Real PseudoColor support for TrueColor visuals. 3) Automatic ability to use Windows fonts in X. 4) A compact (Cygwin-free) X Server for displaying remote clients only. 5) A complete native GDI server. Features like these can take a lot of time to implement properly. Though features like these are nice, I think that business and goverment users would see the most benefit from such features. With that in mind, I've been thinking about setting up a small limited liability company and posting proposals for developing certain features along a specified timeline for a certain fee. For example, suppose that the lack of dream-feature Y is preventing a business from using Cygwin/XFree86 instead of the commercial X Server ``SuperDuper-X'' and that SuperDuper-X costs $200 per desktop. It seems logical to me that said business would find it beneficial to pay, say, $500-$2000 for the implementation of feature Y by a certain deadline (rather than when it just happens to be developed). The source code would be released, of course, but said business would get feature Y now, when they need it, and they would be able to stop paying $200 per desktop for SuperDuper-X. Part of my motivation for proposing this is that I know we have tons of business and government users out there to whom $500-$2000 is nothing. To me, on the other hand, $500-$2000 is 5-20% of my current debt for various things (car repairs, engagement rings, computer parts, student loans, etc.). I have just been thinking that if there are businesses out there that would be willing to pay $500-$2000 for a feature, then I should certainly be setup to accept that money. However, if no businesses are seriously interested in this then it would be a waste of my time to file the necessary documents to establish a proper business for handling contract feature development Note: I would not stop working on Cygwin/XFree86 for free in my spare time. Here is the feedback that I would like: 1) Would your company be interested or not interested in this? I want both positive and negative responses so that I can gauge a percentage of business and goverment users out there that are interested. 2) Is your business averse to open source feature development contracts? Or, do you think that presenting the contract on the basis of, ``spend $500-$2000 and save $200 per desktop'', would make it pretty easy to get approval? I am really anxious to read your responses. Thanks, Harold Hunt P.S. I do things properly. I would put one link on the Cygwin/XFree86 site to any site that offers to develop features for a fee. I would not host any company related material on the Cygwin/XFree86 site. However, I would feel justified to point business users in the direction of a proposal for the development of a certain feature if they ask about when that feature will be implemented.
