>I don't think so. Personally I had no problem with giving 10 or 20 bucks >a month (european bucks though ;-). > >Some questions remain though: >1) What to do with the money and who decides that? >2) When is the point reached where it can be started to take money out of >the pot? >3) Who owns the deposit and who manages it? I guess some kind of >organization had to be founded. > >I guess the questions should be reverse-ordered. When an organization is >in place then there will as well be a structure for decision making, which >solves 1) and 2). > >Just brain-storming... That's all this is. ;-) But, if it were to happen, I think that what I would do is this - Found a "foundation". A non-profit group. Set a board of directors that are people who have contributed and helped out on the project - who have a vested interest. The board approves projects that the foundation funds. WRT Helmar's suggestion (and Scott's investment advice), this is not the route that I would choose. The reason for that is that people have paid out their hard earned cash to improve the project. I don't think that anyone would want to wait a year to see that start. Or even 6 months. The value to this proposition is to get started NOW. To make R1 happen sooner. Maybe I am myopic on this, but I don't think that we need to, should, or really can worry about how R3 will turn out. R1 is the critical piece. I think that a working R1 will be the proof that people need to take us seriously and to get the help that we need. Linux didn't really go much of anywhere until it's stable and feature complete releases. I knew people that played with .93 and so on. But it was really nothing until the late 1.X and early 2.X versions. For all we know, as of R1, people will flock to this project and want to help like convicts to a jailbreak. Worrying about some point in the future is a good and wise thing for those in business. But if you presented venture capitalists with a plan that said "y! ou give us 5 million. We use the interest on that for development", they would laugh you out of the meeting. Why? Because their goal is to grow the company and make a profit. In a related way, I think that the goal of a person donating is far more to help the project grow now, rather than later. Again, please take this off list and mail me with your thoughts and opinions.