Hi, On Wed, Jan 14, 2009 at 3:48 PM, Vamsee Kanakala <[email protected]> wrote:
> > As I said, I might be completely off my rocker here, but when people can > spend their free time writing code so that it will benefit the 'community', > why can't we engage the same idealistic sentiments for improving governance? > The key, I think, is providing alternative reward system - viz., > recognition. Or, if I can dare to be even more optimistic, probably just a > big, crazy enough goal will do :). Vamsee, as I understand, good software takes a lot of time to write. Writing good software during "free time" is an incredibly difficult proposition. For many important open source projects, the contributions come from people who are trying to satisfy customers or release cycles with open source software and get paid in the process by companies like RedHat and IBM. The end result is that there is good quality open source software available that is done on-the-job. For example, the most significant contributors to the kernel are corporates. I am very interested to see how the recognition based reward system will work, it is a brilliant suggestion. But like Kenneth says, 14K in Chennai is tough for survival and with a family, you can just forget all about it. The point is that organizations must pay enough money so that money is no longer a problem. With financial issues looming large, I don't see how the poor guys can even think. Cheers, -- Shuveb Hussain Any technology sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic. - Arthur C. Clarke Ibn 'Umar said "The Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, took me by the shoulder and said, 'Be in this world as if you were a stranger or a traveller on the road.'" Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 8, Hadith 425 _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, email [email protected] with "unsubscribe <password> <address>" in the subject or body of the message. http://www.ae.iitm.ac.in/mailman/listinfo/ilugc
