Isn’t building free software on top of a closed platform an awkward solution ? I guess it’s an important factor that cannot be overcome by simply throwing money in the game. Who wants to build software on top of a platform whose producer can change the rules whenever they like (and have an history of doing so) ? It’s nice to see that they’re getting somewhat involved into some open source but I fear their only motivation is to gain traction behind their platform and thus entire Windows product line. Unless they change their politics, I fear they’ll only have a marginal support from the community.
Maybe I’m wrong but most FOSS coder I know are educated, know the dark Microsoft history and won’t get tricked that easily.
Obviously Mono should be the #1 contender. Aside from the fact that the team has done a tremendous job in porting the framework, there is the added bonus in that Microsoft officially giving money to support the Open Source port of it’s framework might put Microsoft in an interesting position should Microsoft ever decide to weld it’s “you’ve violated our patents” sword against the Mono project.
Oren, I wasn’t trying to offend you, if I did, sorry for that. My point was that if the NHibernate projects needs money, the project owning company (Red Hat) should provide that money. It’s not for nothing that they employ the main developer (which IMHO is a way to support the project with money and to guarantee there’s always at least one developer full time on the project, precisely what this initiative tries to accomplish for other projects. It’s now up to the mind change inside the heads of all these Morts out there ;))
I really think we can extend the incubator idea Rob had to existing projects and also form some sort of organization to provide OSS mentoring. I’d be happy to teach the hard lessons I’ve learned, as well as learn from those who’ve run projects even more successful than mine.
What is the purpose of the money exactly? Paying programming hours? Giving a Thank You notice… here’s some money? Paying for some expenses? I mean how long will the money have an effect on the development in terms of incentives. I mean $500 won;t keep some developers cranking code forever.
I have seen some suggestions for projects that are well established. I would rather see more money devoted for young good projects which need more support to stand on their feet.
