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'Open Funding' For Driver Development

Posted by timothy on from the how-about-kernel-drivers-for-usb-802.11 dept.

Doc Ruby writes "The TreoCentral community has announced a bounty for the first BlueTooth SDIO driver delivered for the Treo 600 (PalmOS 5). The thread shows the development of both the requirements of the quarry, and the contributions to the bounty. If this process works, is 'open funding' of development the next wave of the emerging online community? How will the 'traditional' vision/scope> requirements> features> >recode> retest> demo> cycle expand to include the user community in the financing?" Update: 06/16 19:43 GMT by T : Updated the bounty link to a server better able to handle it.

3 of 100 comments (clear)

  1. Quality? by ricochet81 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Isn't the quality of linux software rooted in that there are no timetables to get things working? It seems like quality comes from slow-moving community discussion and eventually a product. On the other hand, I would like to be able to throw money at some projects to get software faster.

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    Error: Id10t detected
  2. Government in on the act. by bstadil · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Maybe a litle OT but the fact that the US Federal Government has agreed to GPL "components" of it's total software developmnents is a much bigger story.

    There is a new website available and the estimated savings to the public sector is pegged at $56B / Year.

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    Help fight continental drift.
  3. Explanation of Parent Subject by WarriorPoet42 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    For those not in the know Rent-A-Coder is a site where people/companies put up software projects, and (get this!) coders bid on the project. Once a coder is selected, the client puts the agreed upon fee in escrow. All communication (in theory) is conducted through the website, so that in cases of despute, there is a clear papertrail. At the end of the project, the escrow company releases the money to the coder. Badabing, badaboom.
    It sounds like a good place for young coders to get experience. In practice however, the overwhelming majority of jobs get placed to more experienced coders (read: RAC users with higher ratings). So even in the code-whoring business, the classic experience catch-22 remains in effect.