[openbeos] Re: Bounties

Hi Jonas,

I like that idea. I could easily integrate that idea into Haikuware
somewhere or even into Haiku (if allowed)!

I just seem to have a hard time engaging anyone at Haiku. I think the admins
and devs have enough to worry about. However, if you can find a panel of
judges that might be a start. I think a monthly frequency may be a bit too
ambitious, however maybe something like a quarterly prize would be better.

I've noticed from the Source Activity CIA, there's seems to be these bursts
of activity and inspiration from developers. Say for instance the time when
Hugo committed all the network code and patches. If you held this prize idea
then, and say had a pole with a bunch of devs on it asking which one
deserved the quarterly prize at the end of that quarter, most likely Hugo
would have gotten it; and rightly so.

Karl

On 7/18/07, Jonas Sundström <jonas@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:



If the project isn't comfortable with bounties, let's try something
else instead. No system is ever going to
be fair, or be able to match up development supply and demand, so I
say, lets throw out the build-to-order model and instead see what -gets
built- and reward that. Like a monthly Nobel prize of Haiku.

Let's try a fund to which people can donate, from which a monthly cash
reward (award?) can be given to a developer (or other contributor)
who's contributed something great (code or otherwise) recently or over
the years of the project.

I think it's best done independently from Haiku, so it's not an
internal peer award. But the fund should probably consult the Haiku
Admin Team so the rewards given are truly deserved, and so not only
user-visible or easily understood things get awarded.

It's not going to be fair, especially not on the short-term, but it's a
way for people to say "thank you", rather than saying "work on this"
and so putting more pressure on the current developers.

This is probably not going to entice developers outside of BeOS/Haiku
to join up and port anything huge, like OpenOffice. Which I don't think
was very likely anyway. I believe the "good vibrations" of a cash
reward at regular intervals will have a greater effect than the carrot-
effect of a bounty. Awards may get noticed. Outsiders may become
interested. Who knows.

Code quality won't be hurt by hasty work to snipe a bounty. Current
developers may feel encouraged to stay committed (unless jealosy
becomes a problem). It may be easier to administrate, except for
choosing who/what to reward, pleasing everyone. I'm sure there are
other arguments for and probably some against too. To me it looks
simple enough to organize, present, understand and administrate, unlike
a bounties system. Not that anything involving other people's money is
ever truly simple.

If Karl or somebody else wants to organize this, we could give the
first cash reward next month! Wouldn't that be fun?

/Jonas.

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