Re: [libreplanet-discuss] Steam for Linux

[Patrick Anderson]

Alexander Berntsen wrote:
> the current area of research and
> experimentation needs to be how
> to we fund free game developers.

Let's develop a new Crowd Funding
platform for Free Software where
customers vote for *future* bug-
fixes and features by committing
a "promise-to-fund" that charges
their account only if the target
is met.

The target is set by developers
who reverse-bid for that job.

This allows Users to guide the
direction of that fork, while
also letting subgroups fork when
large enough to attract developer.

This Crowd Funding platform can
come in the form of  a patch or
plugin or alternate client for
Ubuntu Software Center,
Google Play Store for Android,
Apple App Store and iTunes,
RedHat, SUSE, Oracle, HP, Dell,
Microsoft, etc.

It could also be used to fund
Free Software Hosting to allow
users to safely rent instances
of software or VMs or storage
or game servers, email, etc.

The potential for exploitation
and misuse increases as this
approach succeeds, and so we
also need a legally-binding
Social Contract that stops us
from turning sour as we grow.

I have some very careful ideas
about what should be included
in the Social Contract.


Sincerely,
Patrick Anderson
http://ImputedProduction.BlogSpot.com