$400 bounty started for "simple" OSS node.js module

Re:$400 bounty started for "simple" OSS node.js module by callmeed on Sunday May 08, 2011 @03:42AM (#2525453)

Is this common in certain OSS circles? I know stack overflow has a bounty feature, but I've never really seen this before.

I thought open source was about "scratching your own itch", not "here's $20, scratch me"

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Re:$400 bounty started for "simple" OSS node.js module by thwarted on Sunday May 08, 2011 @03:58AM (#2525471)

I thought open source was about "scratching your own itch", not "here's $20, scratch me"

Open Source is about availability of the source code, not about paying for the development or not.

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Re:$400 bounty started for "simple" OSS node.js module by cbf on Sunday May 08, 2011 @04:12AM (#2525486)

I've paid for features to be implemented and been paid to implement features. It's not common per se but it's not frowned upon in my experience. It's often a lot more efficient to pay someone else (or them you) with expertise and a commit bit to get something done; just don't expect money to allow you to go against the projects grain and tack on cumbersome or obscure functionality.

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Re:$400 bounty started for "simple" OSS node.js module by 6ren on Sunday May 08, 2011 @06:06AM (#2525602)

No. It possibly can demotivate people (is that all I'm worth?; since I started doing this for money it's not fun any more) http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/motivation.html

However, I think it's a great idea in principle. There's been the "street performer protocol" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threshold_pledge_system#Street_... (which didn't seem to take off); and http://www.kickstarter.com (which did, but it's mostly not software).

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Re:$400 bounty started for "simple" OSS node.js module by mnutt on Sunday May 08, 2011 @09:57AM (#2525867)

I had the exact same experience. I worked for an open source company that had bounties and I think it was one of the major factors that completely killed the open source community around it. A few years later a friend of mine mentioned she had contributed to the project, but stopped after she worked on something for 10 hours and realized that worked out to about $10/hour.

However, it seems like a good model if it gets up to market rates (if someone could do this in an hour or two) and especially if it's something developers wouldn't do on their own.

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Re:$400 bounty started for "simple" OSS node.js module by wladimir on Sunday May 08, 2011 @04:11AM (#2525485)

Not necessarily. To quote the cliche, OSS is free as in freedom not free as in free beer.

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Re:$400 bounty started for "simple" OSS node.js module by tomjen3 on Sunday May 08, 2011 @04:38AM (#2525511)

It is not as common as hacking for yourself, but it does happen. Stallman used to be paid to add features to the gnu system, money which he lived of.

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Re:$400 bounty started for "simple" OSS node.js module by whatusername on Sunday May 08, 2011 @05:53AM (#2525586)

I'm sure I've seen this a few times before. Google showed up this from 2008: http://www.fossfactory.org/

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Re:$400 bounty started for "simple" OSS node.js module by SaltwaterC on Sunday May 08, 2011 @05:17AM (#2525552)

That might work for weekend hacking sessions. But for serious projects, most of the development process is financed by businesses. Take a peek at the Linux contributors: http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2010/12/linux-kernel...? but this isn't a sole case.

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Re:$400 bounty started for "simple" OSS node.js module by reddittor on Sunday May 08, 2011 @03:47AM (#2525457)

I'd love to do it myself, but I've tried a few times without much success. Hopefully, I will be able to learn from someone else should they choose to do this.

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