Re: bounties

[Xavier Scheuer]

2010/6/17 Valentin Villenave <address@hidden>:

> Absolutely. That's why I've always said that we should have something
> like a "bounty thermometer" (such as the one they use for Blender's
> open movies IIRC, or http://haikuware.com/bounties/ as well).

Agree.
At this time there is nothing on the official LilyPond website that say
"You like using LilyPond, support it!  You can donate to help improving
the development".
A good "nice-looking" thermometer could be IMO quite efficient if it is
visible enough to "lambda" users.


>  - step 1, we establish a public list of "most wanted" features or
> bugfixes, and developers who could be willing to work on these
> estimate the amount of time (i.e. money) required to address each one
> of these;

Totally agree.
This list of "most wanted" features would be very helpful to _really_
understand what are the most annoying things/lacks in LilyPond
*everyday usage* (i.e. "lambda" users).

There is sometimes a "gap" between user priorities and devel ones...

Right now it is already more or less possible to have a basic idea of
"most wanted" features (or "most annoying" bugs) in sorting issues by
"Stars".
http://code.google.com/p/lilypond/issues/list?can=1&q=&sort=-stars&colspec=ID%20Type%20Status%20Priority%20Stars%20Owner%20Summary

But it is IMO a very limited system since

  a. "lambda" users do not use the bug tracker;
  b. if they have had a look at it they wouldn't know they can "star"
     the issue they want to be solved;
  c. you need a Google account to use the tracker (which can be really
     _painful_).


> However, if Han-Wen's LilyPond-design experiment has to teach us
> something, it's that considering this only from a development
> perspective is not enough. Therefore, I do believe that we should
> *also* consider having "LilyPonding" branch, for newbies, musicians,
> composers, teachers, who sometimes need to have a large score typeset
> quickly but don't have enough skills or time or patience to typeset it
> on their own. Sort of a "rent-a-LilyPonder" service :-)
> Advanced users who could handle this type of jobs would get paid
> (obviously), but a part of the money could also go to development
> funding.

Very nice idea too.
That could be good for users who do not want to involve themselves in
LilyPond "development" (including doc/bug work) but who would want to
support LilyPond development in doing what they like: typesetting music
(even for other people).  :-)


> (Full disclosure: I have actually founded my own small one-person
> company to offer LilyPond-related services, such as publishing,
> training, composition, arrangement, LilyPonding of sorts, etc. And
> AFAIK, as of today there are at least half a dozen other
> companies/small-businesses like mine.)

Congratulations and good luck.

Cheers,
Xavier

--
Xavier Scheuer <address@hidden>