Re: a modest proposal - Debian needs more $
>>>>> "dman" == dman <dsh8290@rit.edu> writes:
dman> | I find it annoying that I can buy a Debian CD for $3.00 + shipping.
dman> | It should be more.
dman> This is an easy problem to solve! Mail me a (valid) check for $1,000
dman> US and I'll mail you back a CD. :-)
LOL. yeah that would work. I was kind of hoping that others would
pitch in too.
dman> | And remember nothing is stopping anyone from taking my CD that I buy
dman> | and making copies of it.
dman> This is cool. It means I can give my friends a copy of Debian so they
dman> can enjoy it too.
That's right - and that's good.
dman> | I thought to myself - "it's just not fair that I can do this for
dman> | free". Debian needs to pay for equipment, T1's, etc...
dman> No it doesn't. Some people give it for free too. "free" is about
dman> more than just taking.
Nice in theory. Practically speaking it's more about taking. Human
nature I suppose.
dman> | So I pay - then we immediately get into the tar-pit of why should I
dman> | pay and no one else does.
dman> 'cause you have extra dough to throw around and you want to pay :-)
That argument doesn't work for very long. Pretty soon I'm the only
one paying and nothing gets done. Then I don't pay anymore.
dman> | There is a similar situation in P2P. .01% of the people upload,
dman> | everyone else downloads.
dman> Maybe only .01% of the people have anything worthwhile to contribute?
Being cynical, I am assuming that 99.99% of the people are leaches.
Truly Debian is the force of anti-cynicism since it has worked so well
for so many years on a minimum of resources.
dman> Only if you hire people who actually enjoy the project. Volunteer
True, but they won't get paid much so they'll stil have to enjoy it
:-)
You know - lot of volunteer organizations pay people to have actual
jobs to support the organization. It's not clear to me that Debian is
that much different. I would like to think that the goal of getting
Debian more help is one that can be universally agreed on. The tough
part is how to fund such a goal.
dman> | Why not generate that money from CD/ISO/connection sales ?
dman> Go ahead! Charge for connections to your server. (don't worry, I
dman> won't connect to it)
Precisely the problem. And what if I said I was donating ALL my
profits to Debian. Would you still avoid it ? Most people would. I
have many times considered starting to sell Debian CD's for exactly
this purpose, i.e. funnel money back to Debian. Instead of doubting
my fellow Debian enthusiast - I guess I should start and then we'll
see who is talk and who is action.
dman> Debian is an example of how things should be. People who have give
dman> freely, and those who don't have receive. It all goes 'round because
dman> those who have aren't hording it. The outcome is that everyone "has"
dman> in the end.
I agree - that's the goal and a worthy one it is.
I guess I'll just write more checks.
Sorry, you won't be getting one :-)
Brian
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