Comment 1467 for bug 1

On Sat, Oct 23, 2010 at 23:21, Faldegast <email address hidden> wrote:
> In 2007 the market for a software store was very immature. Now everyone
> got one. There is Appstore, Android Market, Chrome Web Store, and
> Microsofts specs for Windows 8 suggests they are planning one.

I think it is necessary to have a software store - for one reason:
Just to make it easy to buy the commercial software one wants to use -
and then of course the installation must be easy (which on Ubuntu in
general already is). If it is hard for people to find, buy and install
the software they want to use (and maybe don't know the name of the
tool upfront), they might blame the OS for it.

That said, regarding making money with/for/from Ubuntu (I read in the
news about the money perspective) I thought of the core advantage of
Open Source Software: Pay for effort - for work.

Nobody thinks of paying a yearly license for having tubes in the wall
- no - people pay the plumber when they need him/her for putting
additional tubes or doing repair work. I think, it should be the same
for software. The advantage of software is that it can be easier
duplicated and easier offered than the tubes.

In addition to a software store I think what should be introduced in
the same easy way is something like pledgebank
(http://www.pledgebank.com/) - a platform that allows to easily put
money together for implementing feature x or asking for fixing the bug
y. Let's say 20 companies are asking for the same thing that maybe
costs - lets say - 10000 dollar to implement/fix, it would cost 500
per company. And this payed for one developer working for
approximately a month (assuming a country with high taxes).

Asking money for using Ubuntu in general (if it is only 10 Dollar, I
read about such ideas a few days ago) is not a good idea IMHO. In
Hungary for example Microsoft is asking a similar amount for student
version of Windows+MSOffice (yes it is like drug-dealing in front of
the schools...).

DonationCoder (http://www.donationcoder.com/) also have several
approaches for funding software development, from micro-donations up
to custom-made software request handling through forums. I think, to
build an "Ubuntu" for people seeking for programs to be written or
bugs to be fixed, combined with a simple way of donation/payment,
would be a big gain for Ubuntu. - Especially for companies with need
to optimize their overall performance (and the computer is often an
important tool for efficient administration in a company).

--
Martin Wildam

http://www.google.com/profiles/mwildam