Payments for Development word?

[myocean]

Has it ever happened that the community has paid for OpenCPN development work, for the progrmaming? I mean with some features people can save quite some money compared to commercial solutions. What have people donated for up to now?
(I have seen for example the hardware donation for the radar plugin)

[HappySeagull]

The radar plugin was much requested and an excellent idea with a wide application. As was for the radar plugin, it's impossible for the developers to strap on every bit of hardware at their own expense.

....If you had a proposal for a project that was interesting to the developers and was maybe useful to others, why not lay out some details?
But As to hiring them away from US, you'd better do that via PM!!

[bdbcat]

myocean....

Thanks for the question.

We have relatively little activity in ongoing donations to the OpenCPN project. Of course, we would like to see more activity, as it enables the developers to gain access to various hardware and software configurations that will benefit the project as a whole. So, more is better.

There is always the option for a user or group to sponsor a specific feature or configuration of O. This is a well-known business model for open source development. We activated a variation of that idea for the Garmin Radar overlay project, for instance. We are considering initiating another for the BroadBand radar overlay project as well.

So, to sum up, if you like what's going on, consider a donation. If you have specific ideas that may not be in the mainstream, consider a sponsored project. In all cases, enjoy OpenCPN wherever your cruising may take you.

Dave

[myocean]

Hi Dave!
What about coordinating and speeding up the works on the radar project? This would include sponsoring a developer for working on this project within a specified timeframe, may be including specific features (e.g. collision warning, anchor watch?).
Instead of buying an expensive multi function display, why not donate for programming works?
I can imagine that waiting an indefinite time for a "may be" solution is not possible for everybody. If the alternative is spending lots of money for dedicated display hardware there should be further sponsoring potential.
Ulf

[hoolie]

Ulf

To be honest I think your points are too vague to be acted upon.

Who are you thinking of paying to do "these things" that you mention? The team spends a lot of their own unpaid time on development and the pace of progress is determined by their efforts, as available. I honestly think it's a whole lot more complicated than you envisage so just sit back and see how things pan out ... ... ...

[myocean]

Originally Posted by hoolie

To be honest I think your points are too vague to be acted upon.

Oh yes, sure. Without discussing specifications it is certainly not clear what is the goal.
I wondered about how many people do work e.g. on such a radar feature and if this is variable depending on donations.

Originally Posted by hoolie

The team spends a lot of their own unpaid time

Yes, such donations would mean to partly converting unpaid time to paid time.
If let's say 20-30 users sponsor 10-15% of the cost they had normally for a multi function display, what would that change?
Or is this just not realistic because it is so difficult to find sponsors?

[blubaju]

Originally Posted by myocean

Has it ever happened that the community has paid for OpenCPN development work, for the progrmaming? I mean with some features people can save quite some money compared to commercial solutions. What have people donated for up to now?
(I have seen for example the hardware donation for the radar plugin)

Sound like a spy from department of finance looking for untaxed income!

[myocean]

Originally Posted by blubaju

Sound like a spy from department of finance looking for untaxed income!

No, I am from the Swiss Bank Association, looking for rich developers who could become new customers.