James <pkx1...@gmail.com> writes: > Hello, > > On 5 October 2012 02:08, Zenaan Harkness <z...@freedbms.net> wrote: >> Any estimates of the number of "active" users of lilypond? We could >> arrange feature fundings, with many users, say $20 each makes it >> eminently feasible - kickstarter for lilypond.. but kickstarter >> results in I think in 10% or so lost to the middle men, but it could >> suffice. I'd be happy to pay straight into developers account, if >> there is a consensus amongst say 100 people to fund a feature. >> Zenaan > > Kickstarter has been discussed before > > http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/lilypond-user/2012-02/msg00358.html
Well, the main issue is of course that money is no adequate substitute for code. First you need to decide on an editing platform where you want things to be happening. For turning money into code, the answer usually is "a web platform", but then the results are not likely to be useful except for academic purposes or for web-based music editing projects. Actually feasible platforms (like, say, Frescobaldi) have quite specific requirements and learning curves, so either you need somebody already involved with the project who has spare _time_ to sell, or you need to pay all the investment for _making_ somebody acquainted with the project, easily one or more orders of magnitude more expensive, with repercussions on the project balance and motivation even if you manage to get this amount of funding. I'm getting "crowd-funded" for my work on LilyPond, and it is basically a full-time arrangement where I don't really have spare resources to sell but instead spend all my time doing what I consider the best use of my work for LilyPond. And since I am quite acquainted with the area I work on, so far I have managed to convince enough people of the value of my work to be able to cover my expenses of living, but not more than that. While facilities like Kickstarter have a larger audience, I have my doubts that they will attract enough additional interest to make the funding of projects feasible where money is turned into actual developer time not available otherwise. -- David Kastrup _______________________________________________ lilypond-user mailing list lilypond-user@gnu.org https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/lilypond-user