Slashdot Mirror

Seems like an as-yet unsolved problem.

There have been proposals to have a centralized mozilla bounty system at mozilla.org, but they've been dismissed as WONTFIX in anticipation of human conflict becoming distracting to those with authority over the code base.

Some, like Mark Shuttleworth, once held hope for more support for bounties from Mozilla, such as a bugzilla feature to associate bounties with bugs. That hope seems to have disappeared.

Mozilla-related Wiki attempts have also disappeared, and the other websites out there seem to lack critical mass.

However, Mozilla has started a limited bounty program for security bugs, with help from long-time bounty advocate Mark Shuttlesworth.

As far as the mechanics of moving money around, http://fundable.org/ might be an option.

other sites
----------
http://bountycounty.org/
http://www.opensourcexperts.com/bountylist.html?bo untytype=1&cat=33
http://croczilla.com/zap/bounties/

Even if I had the skills, I don't have the time. And I can't afford to pay someone who can. So no - I can NOT maintain the code if it is intimately tied to a single developer.

I don't think there is any need to be pedantic here. Can you afford to run closed source applications knowing that the vendor could drop support? From a risk assessment standpoint, is it better to have access to the source code even if you could not personally do anything with it? At the very least, if the program is worth something to you, you have the option to drop some spare change into a bounty to have your problem fixed. And if the program is worth nothing to you, what difference does it make if it doesn't work for you?

We have already a working OSS-bounty-system in use http://www.opensourcexperts.com/. Many aspects could very well be improved but a solution like this would create a market- or bazar-like place for sofware improvements.
If the government/administration really wants to support software development, it can double the bounties for example. I would not follow with the voucher-idea because vouchers are free and you don't have to think on how to spend them.

I have seen some Open Source companies offer Bounties for features they want for their software. These are usually items that they do not have time or resouces to handle. They list the items and attach a dollar value for each one. This is open to anyone with the skills. You can google Software Bounty or start here http://www.opensourcexperts.com/bountylist.html . Slashdot covered this before and there are more links here http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/0 5/10/1915229&tid=156&tid=185&tid=131&tid=154&tid=4 &tid=106

Don't forget http://www.opensourcexperts.com/

Another place with these very features is opensourceexperts.com.

Try opensourcexperts.com. They do exactly what you were talking about.

Dammit, that link was http://opensourcexperts.com.

There seems to be another similar service up and running now however.

Mark Pratt of Beehive, Germany, has relaunched the SourceXchange idea:

Open SourceXperts.com

Complete with the lame eX. It only launched on 10 November, so be gentle with yor 'how quiet here' comments.