Help Support Python

[Bengt Richter]

On Sat, 12 Jul 2003 12:22:41 +0200, Max M <maxm at mxm.dk> wrote:

>Guido van Rossum wrote:
>
>> I'm pleased to announce that the Python Software Foundation (PSF) is now
>> accepting donations from individuals and companies interested in
>> supporting our mission to improve the Python programming language.
>
>
>It would be nice if there was some suggested amounts.
>
>Like:
>
>       $x.xx for a "one year Student Python subscription"
>      $xx.xx for a "one year private Python subscription"
>     $xxx.xx for a "one year company Python subscription"
>
I wonder how employers would react to being asked by employees to contribute
some percentage of (employee's estimate of time savings)*(employee pay rate)
when some free python resource results in such a savings.

Even if approvals are not forthcoming, with $-estimates presented the idea
may sink in that free software (and participation in a free software community)
is valuable ;-)

(It might be that a log of such incidents would have to be logged & accumulated
to get a number that was bigger than the company cost of processing approval
and cutting check (and the cost of keeping the log ;-), unless they establish
policy so it can be done cheaper).

Contributions could be informally classified, to give some indication of what
was $-valuable, e.g., "for cookbok recipe," or "for c.l.py support" or to
encourage specific development, e.g., "for distutils," or "for unittest" etc.

Of course. if someone wants to pay for entertainment value received,
that's fine too ;-)

>Etc. That could make it easier to decide what amount to donate. To me at 
>least.
>
>Anyhoo, I plunked in some $ and hope others will too. It's a great 
>language that has made my workday a lot more fun.
>
True. But money isn't everything. I think it must be recognized that the bulk
of contributions to free software in general is still <volunteer time>*<some level of pay
that isn't being paid>, even though increasingly organizations are recognizing
that free software is a process they can benefit from, and most if they contribute.
So it is recognized that some level of <emloyee time>*<actual pay rate> can be justified.

But it is a social interaction. Being the only cook and provider at a pot luck
is not a very good pot luck, but if most contribute, it can be great. If professional
chefs volunteer or are paid to contribute, all the better. And digital
pot lucks are magic, since eating doesn't use up what's on the table!! ... unless someone
can limit the table access artificially, like with patents and copyrights etc. ;-/

Regards,
Bengt Richter