1*e4b17023SJohn Marino@ignore 2*e4b17023SJohn Marino@c Set file name and title for man page. 3*e4b17023SJohn Marino@setfilename fsf-funding 4*e4b17023SJohn Marino@settitle Funding Free Software 5*e4b17023SJohn Marino@c man begin SEEALSO 6*e4b17023SJohn Marinogpl(7), gfdl(7). 7*e4b17023SJohn Marino@c man end 8*e4b17023SJohn Marino@end ignore 9*e4b17023SJohn Marino@node Funding 10*e4b17023SJohn Marino@c man begin DESCRIPTION 11*e4b17023SJohn Marino@unnumbered Funding Free Software 12*e4b17023SJohn Marino 13*e4b17023SJohn MarinoIf you want to have more free software a few years from now, it makes 14*e4b17023SJohn Marinosense for you to help encourage people to contribute funds for its 15*e4b17023SJohn Marinodevelopment. The most effective approach known is to encourage 16*e4b17023SJohn Marinocommercial redistributors to donate. 17*e4b17023SJohn Marino 18*e4b17023SJohn MarinoUsers of free software systems can boost the pace of development by 19*e4b17023SJohn Marinoencouraging for-a-fee distributors to donate part of their selling price 20*e4b17023SJohn Marinoto free software developers---the Free Software Foundation, and others. 21*e4b17023SJohn Marino 22*e4b17023SJohn MarinoThe way to convince distributors to do this is to demand it and expect 23*e4b17023SJohn Marinoit from them. So when you compare distributors, judge them partly by 24*e4b17023SJohn Marinohow much they give to free software development. Show distributors 25*e4b17023SJohn Marinothey must compete to be the one who gives the most. 26*e4b17023SJohn Marino 27*e4b17023SJohn MarinoTo make this approach work, you must insist on numbers that you can 28*e4b17023SJohn Marinocompare, such as, ``We will donate ten dollars to the Frobnitz project 29*e4b17023SJohn Marinofor each disk sold.'' Don't be satisfied with a vague promise, such as 30*e4b17023SJohn Marino``A portion of the profits are donated,'' since it doesn't give a basis 31*e4b17023SJohn Marinofor comparison. 32*e4b17023SJohn Marino 33*e4b17023SJohn MarinoEven a precise fraction ``of the profits from this disk'' is not very 34*e4b17023SJohn Marinomeaningful, since creative accounting and unrelated business decisions 35*e4b17023SJohn Marinocan greatly alter what fraction of the sales price counts as profit. 36*e4b17023SJohn MarinoIf the price you pay is $50, ten percent of the profit is probably 37*e4b17023SJohn Marinoless than a dollar; it might be a few cents, or nothing at all. 38*e4b17023SJohn Marino 39*e4b17023SJohn MarinoSome redistributors do development work themselves. This is useful too; 40*e4b17023SJohn Marinobut to keep everyone honest, you need to inquire how much they do, and 41*e4b17023SJohn Marinowhat kind. Some kinds of development make much more long-term 42*e4b17023SJohn Marinodifference than others. For example, maintaining a separate version of 43*e4b17023SJohn Marinoa program contributes very little; maintaining the standard version of a 44*e4b17023SJohn Marinoprogram for the whole community contributes much. Easy new ports 45*e4b17023SJohn Marinocontribute little, since someone else would surely do them; difficult 46*e4b17023SJohn Marinoports such as adding a new CPU to the GNU Compiler Collection contribute more; 47*e4b17023SJohn Marinomajor new features or packages contribute the most. 48*e4b17023SJohn Marino 49*e4b17023SJohn MarinoBy establishing the idea that supporting further development is ``the 50*e4b17023SJohn Marinoproper thing to do'' when distributing free software for a fee, we can 51*e4b17023SJohn Marinoassure a steady flow of resources into making more free software. 52*e4b17023SJohn Marino@c man end 53*e4b17023SJohn Marino 54*e4b17023SJohn Marino@display 55*e4b17023SJohn Marino@c man begin COPYRIGHT 56*e4b17023SJohn MarinoCopyright @copyright{} 1994 Free Software Foundation, Inc. 57*e4b17023SJohn MarinoVerbatim copying and redistribution of this section is permitted 58*e4b17023SJohn Marinowithout royalty; alteration is not permitted. 59*e4b17023SJohn Marino@c man end 60*e4b17023SJohn Marino@end display 61