> > It is interesting that key infrastructure such as Velocity suffers from > > a lack of resource. My feeling is that I would prefer to pay for > > Velocity if it meant that a key piece of development infrastructure > > would get more resource. > > > > This is quite common really - people have day jobs that come before > > their OSS projects. I am not saying take it closed source (obviously), > > just that developers/companies who use velocity could perhaps find go > > some way to funding its development. > > > > Velocity is mission critical for me - as is several other OSS projects. > > I can't necessarily contribute to them all in terms of code, as I am > > President of the New Zealand Open Source Society - so my free time is > > kinda sparse. However, I can make a business case for contributing to a > > project that is helping deliver end user software.
I think this is often a good route if a successful case can be made. Certainly we (Nature Publishing Group) are planning to do a certain amount of work creating additional functionality for Velocity during the course of this year which would probably be of a "contributable" nature (i.e. generic enough ... But probably better suited to the tools project). However, a lot of what this discussion is dealing with are bug fixes. These are the sort of thing that we would love to see fixed but which don't really cause us enough of a headache to lose sleep over ... You know how it is: things like that are difficult to sell because they're not whizz-bang enough to convince those who hold the purse strings that time/money should be committed. > > I don't expect people doing this in their own time to be held to > > anything. I certainly don't expect anyone to feel bad about not having > > the time. Businesses need some certainty though - so perhaps we need a > > wider discussion about how we can allow people to commit some time > > financially speaking (aka find a sponsor who uses this technology). > > > > > > I know of a few off hand :) ... Well, NPG are one, for sure ;D As I say, it's a matter of convincing the-powers-that-be of the neccessity of the work _for them_ ... I'm happy to raise the subject here and see what happens, but would need to know more about the extent of any proposed involvement before I could pitch it - if anyone wants to contact me about that off-list, please feel free. Chris ******************************************************************************** DISCLAIMER: This e-mail is confidential and should not be used by anyone who is not the original intended recipient. If you have received this e-mail in error please inform the sender and delete it from your mailbox or any other storage mechanism. Neither Macmillan Publishers Limited nor any of its agents accept liability for any statements made which are clearly the sender's own and not expressly made on behalf of Macmillan Publishers Limited or one of its agents. Please note that neither Macmillan Publishers Limited nor any of its agents accept any responsibility for viruses that may be contained in this e-mail or its attachments and it is your responsibility to scan the e-mail and attachments (if any). No contracts may be concluded on behalf of Macmillan Publishers Limited or its agents by means of e-mail communication. Macmillan Publishers Limited Registered in England and Wales with registered number 785998 Registered Office Brunel Road, Houndmills, Basingstoke RG21 6XS ******************************************************************************** --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
