Linked by Thom Holwerda on Fri 1st Feb 2008 20:56 UTC, submitted by irbis
"At a recent Australian Linux conference, Sam Varghese reported that two Debian developers pointed out that the Debian Project needs more corporate support for 'men, money and machines' to advance the operating system. They're right. It does. They also pointed out that many companies, such as HP, IBM, Silicon Graphics and Google, either use Debian Linux internally, or actually incorporate it into products. For example, HP uses Debian 'Etch' 4.0 in its new t5735 thin-client device. Right again. Debian, either directly or through related Linux distributions such as Xandros, is used both by Linux enthusiasts and Fortune 500 companies. Of course, you couldn't prove that by the vast majority of Debian developers who never see a thin dime from their Debian work. Or, I should add, get access to new hardware, travel expenses to Debian developer conferences and so on."
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Member since:
2005-11-21
I think people underestimate how hard it is to convince companies to donate money to Open Source projects. I know I've tried to convince the powers that be to do so at a couple of place I've worked and it's basically always failed.
The only time it has worked is when the project had something to sell. Be it CDs, books, support, priority bug fixes or whatever. Then it was a lot easier. "
You have to convince those with the cash they can leverage the code in their products and thus get a return on investment. The hardest part would be coming to a respect on the GPLv2/v3 where both parties don't compromise and benefit.