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How Long Should an Open Source Project Support Users?
Ubuntu Kitten writes "Since October the community-generated database of cards known to work with Ndiswrapper has been down. This is apparently due to an on-going site redesign, but right now the usual URL simply directs to a stock Sourceforge page. Without the database, the software's usability is severely diminished but this raises an interesting question: Is an open source project obliged to provide support for its users? If so, for how long should the support last? Web servers cost money, especially for popular sites. While developers can sometimes find sponsorship, is it possible to get sponsorship simply for infrastructure and user services?"
In other words, if you don't have a git repo, you don't warrant support? Actually, I'm kind of sympathetic to that train of thought. Open source is driven by volunteers, not big centralized servers. Corporations certainly do their bit, but open source is about bazaars, not cathedrals.