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Gnome.org Desktop Integration Bounty Hunt

Posted by michael on from the power-of-the-purse dept.

tempest303 writes "In order to help improve integration between apps on the Gnome desktop, Gnome.org is offering bounties for the completion of a variety of integration tasks. Bounties range from $15, for submitting new .ical files for Evolution 2.0's multiple calendar view, to $2500 for allowing synchronization between Evolution's addressbook with Gaim's buddy list!"

10 of 329 comments (clear)

  1. Nice but by grennis · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Doesnt the open source model succeed by encouraging people to collaborate and work together? It seems to me that this bounty concept will only motivate people to hide information from each other and work against each other in the name of money.

    1. Re:Nice but by Spider[DAC] · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Actually, its on a tight timeframe, the rules state that it has to be officially accepted into CVS, follow clean code and be nice.

      People may cooperate, but unite behind one front-man.

      This means that a lot of hacking will go on in the shadows, then pour out "when its done", Just like usual. Since the code has to pass the module maintainers eyes, form and correctness will be ensured.

      Overall I think this is a great incentive. (Compare this to Abiword and the patchbounty, for example )

      --
      I didn't do this, now did I?
  2. Great initiative by MikeCapone · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's all good and well to program for love and pride, but these rewards will help the project move over some of the less glamourous problems.

    Consolidation is important in the Linux world; if coders spent more time on it instead of creating new competing apps (not that there's not a place for that), the world would be a better place.

    --
    Treehugger? Treehugger... Treehugger!
    1. Re:Great initiative by MikeCapone · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The downside of course is the only big Fondations (Apache, Gnome, etc) have money to spend because they get it from the industry (like Intel, IBM,...)

      Small donations are the way of the future!

      A fund should be set up where people can donate money that would be allocated to bounties, and they could either select on which task they want their money to be allocated to drop it in a pool of ressources that would be allocated through some kind of more or less democratic process (secure online polls/surveys?)

      As far as I know this thing doesn't exist in the open source world. Correct me if I'm wrong.

      --
      Treehugger? Treehugger... Treehugger!
  3. Interesting concept by daserver · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is very interesting concept, image someone setting up a bounty server for free software (in general) where people could donate money to bounties on any free software project and hackers could claim the money ones they've solved it.

  4. What an excellent idea... by D-Cypell · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If there is one clear area where microsoft leads the field its application integration. Obviously the centralized control make this much more achievable.

    In the long-term it may be more effective to build a high-level API to allow this integration. Perhaps some kind of built in RDBMS with a well defined schema for commonly shared application data. Several static tables to provide an area for common data (Contacts, Favourite websites/ftp servers etc) plus an extensible area for application specific data.

    If the open source community had a well-defined process (shock horror!!) to request changes to the schema we could begin to provide the kind of application integration currently on offer by MS.

    Integrating Gaim with Evolution is great but surely a strategy for integration email clients with IM clients in the general sense would be much more valuable.

    Definatly a move in the right direction though!

  5. Re:Slashdot GNOME Logo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    Slashdot's gnome Logo is outdated

    trying... to... care... but... can't...

  6. Why synchronization?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful


    Wouldn't have been more easy for Evolution, Gaim and other programs to share a single addressbook?!




    Learn from KDE, where Kopete is now dumping it's own contact list in order to share the same Kaddressbook with Kontact, KMail and any other KDE program.




    Why making things more complicated instead of making them simplier?

  7. YES! by kuzb · · Score: 5, Insightful

    FINALLY, someone out there is getting the idea! You can't eat a "thank you", and while the amounts paid may or may not be worth the effort put in, it's something! Great incentive.

    With even a little bit of cash out there for developers to earn, projects like gnome can go a lot farther, a lot faster IMO. My hat is off to you guys at gnome.org!

    --
    BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
  8. Re:Gnome human-computer interaction evaluation by LNX+Flocki · · Score: 5, Informative
    There has been a usability study two years ago. It was funded by Sun and based on Gnome 1.4 - this study is the base for the Gnome HIG and Gnome 2.x
    It would be interesting to do a follow up on that test though and see what has actually been implemented since.

    By the way, the study can be found here