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FLOSS/fund for free and open source projects

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Re: FLOSS/fund for free and open source projects

#61

Post by DowagerDave »

ohashi wrote: post #44
youssefabdelm wrote: post #21

* Fine print: For successful projects only, and up to $100K per year per project —— From their FAQ: > Currently, our focus is on supporting existing, widely used, and impactful projects to specifically contribute to their sustainability. Very new projects or projects with minimal usage are not considered for the time being. > A project can apply for funding of up to $100,000 in one year. To keep the logistics and ope…

I was curious how they might handle something that isn't ready yet, but in the process of being built. But that answers it, it's not eligible. Oh well :( Plenty of good open source out there deserving as well.

you're describing a startup with no business model.

Re: FLOSS/fund for free and open source projects

#62

Post by andris9 »

black_puppydog wrote: post #60
andris9 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had the exact same experience with Nodemailer, a popular open-source project I started 14 years ago. My solution was to empty the README file and set up a dedicated documentation website. Since the project is popular, the documentation website receives around 70,000 visits per month. I initially tried paid ads, but they only netted about $200 per month—not great. So, I started a commercial project somewhat related…

This is a really interesting approach, I hadn't thought of this! Just out of curiosity, do you think the separate documentation page has better conversion than if you were to, say, include the ad directly into the readme inside the repo?

You have less control over formatting and ad placement in the README file, as rendered markdown offers only limited options. With a dedicated documentation website, it’s much easier.

It’s also a question of sovereignty. If your documentation is in the README, then GitHub owns the audience. If they, for some reason, close your project, you’re finished. With your own documentation page, the risk is much lower.

Re: FLOSS/fund for free and open source projects

#63

Post by hellcow »

Instead of structuring this as a fund, why not a non-profit? Then you could solicit tax-deductible donations which get funneled to these FOSS projects as part of your mission. Seems like a possible way to scale this to something much larger than yourselves.

Re: FLOSS/fund for free and open source projects

#64

Post by carlosjobim »

soulofmischief wrote: post #36
carlosjobim wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate open source and would consider myself the chief anti-open source crusader online. I always try to avoid FOSS and pay indie developers for their software. However, in a few cases I've been forced to use FOSS solutions when there's been no other alternative, and then I donate to the creator of it. And I always see the same thing. Thousands and thousands of downloads over the years and the creator has earned only…

For every perceived freeloader is someone who selflessly donated their time and energy so that someone else could benefit from it and improve it if they wanted to.

Somebody who selflessly donated their time and effort to people who won't even make a symbolic donation as thanks. And the biggest freeloaders of them all are giant businesses and high salaried engineers working for them. Shareholders are laughing their ass off at open source developers helping them rake in millions and getting nothing in return.

In the real world, if somebody invites you for dinner you eat for free. If you get invited a hundred times for dinner without inviting back or bringing a bottle of wine, then you're a freeloader. And the guy inviting you is being taken advantage of, he's not being generous. Especially if you start charging other people for eating dinner for free at his house.

Funnily, I've noted in tech circles, that they many times in the real world do not understand reciprocity. They get invited or treated to something and say "that was great, thanks!". Then they keep getting culled from the invitation lists, because they never invite back.

Re: FLOSS/fund for free and open source projects

#65

Post by carlosjobim »

normie3000 wrote: post #57
carlosjobim wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate open source and would consider myself the chief anti-open source crusader online. I always try to avoid FOSS and pay indie developers for their software. However, in a few cases I've been forced to use FOSS solutions when there's been no other alternative, and then I donate to the creator of it. And I always see the same thing. Thousands and thousands of downloads over the years and the creator has earned only…

This is a really interesting perspective! When have you been forced to use FOSS? What OS do you use? Is big-company FOSS ok for you?

I've had to use FOSS in cases when there's no paid option of equivalent features. When I do, I donate. When I donate I see how little other people have donated. People who certainly are richer than me, but are spiritually still stuck on freeloader mentality.

Re: FLOSS/fund for free and open source projects

#66

Post by aserafini »

andris9 wrote: post #48
myprotegeai wrote: post #37

I've maintained a fairly popular open source project for over 13 years[1]. The software is basically "complete." How does funding work for someone like me? I have no initiatives with it that require funding. Occasionally, I need to fix a bizarre obscure bug, or support a new python version/feature (async/await being the last big one). But otherwise, I just field questions a few times a month. Truth be told, I'd rathe…

I had the exact same experience with Nodemailer, a popular open-source project I started 14 years ago. My solution was to empty the README file and set up a dedicated documentation website. Since the project is popular, the documentation website receives around 70,000 visits per month. I initially tried paid ads, but they only netted about $200 per month—not great. So, I started a commercial project somewhat related…

Very interesting! I wonder if, sadly, the rise of AI-assisted coding will chip away also at this potential revenue stream? As developers simply ask a local or cloud LLM how to use a piece a software instead of reading the documentation.

Re: FLOSS/fund for free and open source projects

#67

Post by myprotegeai »

andris9 wrote: post #48
myprotegeai wrote: post #37

I've maintained a fairly popular open source project for over 13 years[1]. The software is basically "complete." How does funding work for someone like me? I have no initiatives with it that require funding. Occasionally, I need to fix a bizarre obscure bug, or support a new python version/feature (async/await being the last big one). But otherwise, I just field questions a few times a month. Truth be told, I'd rathe…

I had the exact same experience with Nodemailer, a popular open-source project I started 14 years ago. My solution was to empty the README file and set up a dedicated documentation website. Since the project is popular, the documentation website receives around 70,000 visits per month. I initially tried paid ads, but they only netted about $200 per month—not great. So, I started a commercial project somewhat related…

Thanks for sharing. It's an interesting idea, to try to trampoline it into another related commercial project. I just checked my RTD analytics, I get around 1k pageviews to `/` per month. Unfortunately I don't have a related commercial product either.

Re: FLOSS/fund for free and open source projects

#68

Post by didgetmaster »

ohashi wrote: post #44
youssefabdelm wrote: post #21

* Fine print: For successful projects only, and up to $100K per year per project —— From their FAQ: > Currently, our focus is on supporting existing, widely used, and impactful projects to specifically contribute to their sustainability. Very new projects or projects with minimal usage are not considered for the time being. > A project can apply for funding of up to $100,000 in one year. To keep the logistics and ope…

I was curious how they might handle something that isn't ready yet, but in the process of being built. But that answers it, it's not eligible. Oh well :( Plenty of good open source out there deserving as well.

So while this effort is commendable, it will do nothing to help open source projects that are good, but just have not become popular yet.

It makes you wonder how many projects are out there which have tremendous potential but still lack a critical feature or two that a bit of funding would help bring to fruition.

Re: FLOSS/fund for free and open source projects

#69

Post by mr-karan »

talelcool wrote: post #13

The owner of this website (floss.fund) has banned the country or region your IP address is in (TN) from accessing this website.

Hi, I'm from Zerodha. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. It was a misconfiguration on our end, which we've now patched.
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