Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

“Money can be a touchy subject in the FOSS community. Some
people feel software should be free of charge (gratis) as well as
free as in speech (libre). These are nice ideals and many projects
are able to provide both. However, we live in a world where money
is a big factor in getting a lot of things done. Projects,
especially FOSS projects, need web space, domain name registration
and dedicated developers. Bigger projects like to be able to visit
conventions, advertise and offer samples of their work on discs.
All of these things cost money and the funds have to come from
somewhere. This is why donation programs and sponsorship are so
important; at the end of the day, developers still need to pay
their bills.

“However, just as developers need funds, so do end-users and
it’s not always within a person’s budget to give money to their
favourite open source projects. There are a lot of organizations
I’d like to hand my paycheque to as thanks for their great work,
but I have bills to pay, as I’m sure we all do. Fortunately there
is a way many of us can financially support FOSS without spending
any extra cash. That’s where the Linux Fund (as well as the BSD
Fund) comes in. About ten years ago, the Linux Fund was set up as a
way to raise money for promising open source projects.”

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