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Yeah, you can't live off $10 an hour in most of the US. Well at least in the cities, there are some places in the country where you can pretend to "get by" if you rely heavily on government services like food stamps, and housing subsidies. Pretty tough way to live really.

uh, no? You can get by on $10/h in the USA without relying on government programs. Granted, this is mostly out in the more rural areas, but you can do it. I only make $8/h and I'm fine. It's not ideal, but its not awful. Unless you are totally spoiled and want every nice thing in life

Someday I'll make $50/h :p

Seriously? From which alternate reality do you reside? I've lived (ie, not at my parents' house) for two years on a job that pays $7.75/hour AND I go to college, without the aid of the government. It's really all about living within your means.
I recently acquired a job that pays a $10/hour training wage ($13/hour afterward) and, I assure you, this is a very good wage for a college student. That said, I live in Michigan, which I would assume is a bit less expensive to live in than much of the rest of the nation. OTOH, I do live in a pretty large city (Grand Rapids). For those of you who don't live in the U.S., or are otherwise uninformed, Michigan has seen better days. Our major industries (automotive, furniture, manufacturing) are pretty much shot.

On topic: Super stoked about Haiku's progress!!!

This is not competitive salary. Those coder already spent countless hour unpaid on haiku. They also benefit from their own work as they are interested in Haiku. Stephan is in Germany, where it cost even more to live than in the US.

If you are curious about Haiku and can give a bit (or as much as you would spend on a Windows license), please do so. It really speed things up a lot and give very concrete result, it's not wasted at all.

Edited 2010-04-07 18:17 UTC

For the last 9 years, most of Haiku developers worked on Haiku out of pleasure, not for financial gain. Its an emotional hobby. Since the contracts are only for a month, it is quite feasible that the developers are doing this during their annual leave period (from their primary job). Just check the Haiku commit log, and you'll see that Stephan and Ingo have contributed an enormous amount of code - they've been working on Haiku during evenings, weekends and during holidays, so its good to see that they can get some money (more symbolic than anything) for doing something they love.

Think students, or people with a hobby that takes up lots of time.

Extra money doing something you love is always a plus.