[Qgis-developer] Re: [Qgis-user] bugfix and cheating

[M S]

Hats off to Greg for offering a substantial donation for an important
fix.  Most commendable!  Hats off to the developers for responding
rapidly.  The unfortunate part is the ambiguity of what needed exactly
produced for payment ("a verifiable solution" and "delivered").   One
would hope that in an open source environment, we can take each other
at our word, and keep contracts and lawyers out of it.   From an
outside perspective, if there were no issues with the linux binaries,
and the mac OSX binary was delivered, and fixed in SVN, the developers
seemed to have done exactly as requested (given the ambiguous
request).  In the future it seems wise to, when offering cash payment,
to be extremely specific on the request.

Users need to remember this is an internationally contributed project,
which all users get for free.  Let's not hold developers, who are
creating free, highly functional and usable software, to strict
conditions for getting a stated donation.  Apply some freedom to the
"agreement" given the nature of the community.  This isn't some giant
corporation trying to rip users off; these are international
developers making quality software for the community.   The keyword is
donations, as users are not buying a product, as was indicated by
saying that (paraphrasing) "in the US we dont pay in advance for
services".  Open source software doesn't fit the capitalist model, so
it seems unwise to apply US ideology to an international project.

A reasonable solution seems within reach...
1) If the request was made clear, and the fix was met on time, stated
donation should be made.
2) If request was ambiguous, and developers had an understanding of
what needed done and did it, but later find out there are more or
requests not initially understood, then please be considerate enough
to donate something for their effort.  After all, they still provided
a valuable service, and likely dropped other issues working on to meet
this urgent request.
3) If the request was ambiguous, and the fix was not on track, and
late, still apply some discretion to donate regardless.

Anyway it's cut, they should get something for the effort, as they
have selflessly given of their time for all of us to benefit from.
Such an amazing thing.

Perhaps an agreement can be reached and all parties satisfied.  One of
the great things about open source communities is the unity.  Lets
keep it strong.   :)

Mark