[openbeos] Re: "One Hour for Haiku" - Coordinating Voluntary Cash Donors

Axel Dörfler wrote (2007-04-27, 09:43:23 [+0200]):
> Hi there,
> 
> I also like Czeslaw's idea, as well as the bounty stuff Karl tried to
> "drag" us to - just on a smaller scale (ie. not Java but driver X, or
> bug Y), and also for hardware (ie. donate to allow us buying this
> hardware to be able to support it better).
> 
> "Jorge G. Mare (a.k.a. Koki)" <koki@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > However, Haiku Inc.
> > is, for some reason, notoriously absent from this picture. I am not
> > the
> > only one who looks up to leadership from Haiku Inc., and I personally
> > have not seen much so far, unfortunately.
> 
> And that's where the problem is. Most of us have little time to spend
> for Haiku - and since most of us are developers, they decide that they
> can best try to improve the Haiku codebase instead of caring about
> other things.
> Michael seems to be the only person with a pure non-dev job on Haiku
> these days - but as you can easily see, his time is limited as well -
> and as you can see at our performance, donations don't seem to be
> interesting enough (small pun intended :-)).
> What we need are people that take care of non-dev issues like these. We
> need to make our financial situation more obvious, make donations more
> rewarding (in terms of: where does all the money go to?, and: do they
> actually appreciate that I just donored $100 to them?), etc.
> There is still no financial report for 2006, for example. There is
> still no bounty page whatsoever.
> This is an opportunity for non-developers to get involved with the
> project, and really help out. We could need someone who manages our
> finances, we could need someone who gives us the occasional qualified
> legal advice, we could need a Jorge 2.0 for marketing, etc.

I wholeheartly agree. And I know that many of the other developers agree 
with Axel. We have only so much time to spent. As much as "the community" 
wants to see Haiku as a professional institution, it still won't change the 
fact that we are all doing this work voluntarily as a hobby project. As 
serious as our intentions may be. So unless someone steps up and actually 
does the work that we all agree would move us forward, it won't get done. 
If anyone expects the existing developers to suddenly do all this 
marketing/communication work, on a steady basis, disappointment will be the 
result, as much as it hurts you and us(!). And don't come with "I want to 
help, what can I do". It never worked in the past. You might ask, "what is 
wrong with offering help"... "why do I get ignored"... there is nothing 
wrong with it, it just won't get you anywhere. The past pretty much proves 
me right. Instead, you need to see a deficiency and try to fix it. If there 
are obstacles in your way, like if you need access to certain things - now 
that is what we can help you with!

That being said, Jorge and others have helped us a long way with these 
things, and some stuff *has* improved. For example, I like how the Haiku 
website has become more central to the community. The project looks more 
alive just by the fact that the Haiku site is more in focus, more news get 
published, blogs on our site. This is *good*, it is the right direction and 
we should extend on that. If you feel like you could set up your own Haiku 
related website, or blog or whatever, please consider just using our site 
instead. The facilities are now there. If something is missing, try to fix 
it. Work with us. The focus is beneficial.

Best regards,
-Stephan

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