Yes, I am asking for a dramatic change in how NVDA is funded. I wasn't
attempting to compare large organizations with NVDA. I was discussing
What I consider a matter of principle, whether a screen-reader that claims
to be free should be funded largely by asking users to contribute. I
understand your point about disruption but disruptive or not, I think that
the fund-raising model should be followed. With your experience in
fund-raising, perhaps you could think of ways to minimize the disruption.
Let's consider the Public Television comparison. Public Television does
not represent itself as free to those who use it. It is paid for, in
considerable part buy users with pledge drives that take up ten or more
weeks a year and with unending incessant requests for donations the rest
of the time.
Regarding a comment made yesterday that we should not misuse our
disability, I don't know what that comment is referring to. I said
nothing about misusing blindness to raise money. I do not advocate
appealing to donors with pity. I advocate appealing to donors to help
blind people have good access to an essential means of communication, work
and entertainment. I'm not advocating misusing blindness. I'm saying
that a free screen-reader should be just that, free to those who use it.
Over and over, blind people complain about having to pay more for access
to Windows and Windows programs than sighted users. They want a free
screen-reader and they want Microsoft to provide one. they don't want a
free screen-reader that they have to contribute to voluntarily. They want
someone else to pay for it. And that's what I'm contending NVDA should be
if it claims to be free. If it stops claiming to be free, that's a
different matter. But the intent is that it should be free to users. It
is not free if blind people who use it are made to feel guilty and like
freeloaders if they don't contribute. that is a means of psychological
coercion. If you contribute from guilt or obligation, NVDA is not free for
you.
And what about the developers of NVDA. I understand that they are willing
to work for a ridiculously low wage but I don't think they should be
satisfied with that. Proper fund-raising would, one would hope, allow
them to earn a salary they deserve. Appreciation and acalades doesn't
help you live at a reasonable level. I am not content that the developers
should sacrifice their earnings potential to do this valuable work. It's
their choice but a proper fund-raising system might allow them to receive
fair remuneration.
Gene
----- Original Message -----
From: "Christopher Bartlett" <themusicalbrewer@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <nvda@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, March 30, 2012 10:09 AM
I personally have no objection to the requests for donations, viewing it
rather like public television. The moment I can use NVDA in a
professional
setting to control my calendar and spell-check documents for public
distribution using MS Office, I won't need JFW anymore and I'll spend my
money with NVDA. I can't support two screen readers at this time, and
while
NVDA does almost everything I need, the subset that JFW covers is more
necessary to me as a small business owner. I hope that ceases to be true
at
some point as I'd far rather my money went to support an open-source
project
than a commmercial enterprise.
As to Gene's other points, yes, one could do all that, and in the process
incur more overhead, meaning you'd need more money. Having worked for a
blindness non-profit, and administered a grant for same, you'd be amazed
at
the bite capital campaigns and fund-raising takes out of the operating
budget. You're comparing apples and oranges in comparing NVDA to large,
established non-profit organizations. Now maybe those in charge should
consider moving NVDA's organization toward that model, but it's not a
simple
choice and would distract them from doing the coding and fixing we're all
anxious to see continue.
Now, if they want to hire me to do fund raising and grant development,
and
can pay me a competitive wage, I'll drop everything else I'm doing and
put
full time into doing that. I'd enjoy it and be good at it, but I can't
donate that kind of time, nor is it likely anyone else would either. So
consider what you're asking for, which is no less than a major change in
how
the funding model is organized. It may be necessary, blind folk are
notoriously tight with money and sadly too many feel entitled to take
what
they can and not give back. It may be that in the long run, the current
model is unsupportable. If that's the conclusion, then James et al will
have to consider the way forward carefully.
Christopher Bartlett
-----Original Message-----
From: nvda-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:nvda-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf
Of Gene
Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2012 4:07 PM
To: nvda@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [nvda] Re: Support NVDA or you will lose it.
I want to make this as clear as possible to avoid misunderstanding. I am
not saying that blind people should not contribute to NVDA. At this
time,
it is a worty goal to help NVDA continue to be developed. there is a
serious shortage of funding at present. But I consider it unacceptable
for
the long term that NVDA be heavily dependent on contributions from users.
If NVDA is free for blind people, then it should be truly free, not free
but
with unending appeals to guilt and for money from users. If that is
going
to be the future, it is not truly free to blind users. It's far past
time
to do more than rely on grants and user contributions.
Perhaps professional fund-raisers should be hired. Perhaps the
experience
and advice of organizations of and for the blind who do successful
fund-raising should be sought. I don't see guide dog schools relying
primarily on guide dog users for support. I don't see the Hadley school
relying primarily on blind users for support.
Organizations of and for blind people, while they do solicit
contributions
from blind people, generally have a much wider gbase of funding. It's
far
past time that serious attention be given to how NVDA may be funded
without
heavy dependence on the user base. either NVDA is a truly free
screen-reader
or it's a screen-reader with lots of guilt attached and pressure to
contribute and that is not free.
Gene
Come talk with other NVDA users on irc.blufudge.net #NVDA
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NVDA Snapshot Downloader:
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Get SkypeTalking for NVDA:
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Come talk with other NVDA users on irc.blufudge.net #NVDA
Your continued donations help keep NVDA development going strong. Donate
at:
http://www.nvaccess.org/wiki/Donate
Or by purchasing voices from Ivona TTS:
http://www.ivona.com/accessibility.php
Use the following link with the code STOR-4NS3-DSCT to save 10% on Voices
from nextup.com:
http://bit.ly/eJN97w
To post messages to the list send email to
nvda@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
To modify your NVDA Email settings or view archives go to:
http://www.freelists.org/list/nvda
NVDA homepage:
http://www.nvda-project.org/
NVDA on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8601265515
The NVDA controler DLL is at:
http://www.nvda-project.org/nvdaControllerClient/
NVDA Snapshot Downloader:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1473937/NVDASD-v2.0.2.exe
Get SkypeTalking for NVDA:
http://skypetalking.googlecode.com/