[OS:N:] Just joined

[Etienne Goyer]

Robert Citek wrote:
> 
> Could you talk up the process a bit more on the OS:N list?  I realize 
> the process is on the Ubuntu web page, but a little executive summary to 
> the OS:N list would be nice and may get the ball rolling.  I'll send a 
> teaser e-mail to the list in a minute.

While we wait for your teaser, here is the executive summary :

1. A potential sponsors get a itch; maybe he really want a specific bug 
to get resolved, maybe he need a specific feature in an existing, or he 
need to have something of general interest writtent from scratch to 
solve a problem of his.

2. This potential sponsor do not have the ressource to solve his problem 
by himself; maybe he does not have the expertise, maybe he does'nt have 
time to take care of it himself.  However, he value a solution to his 
problem enough that he would be willing to pay to have it resolve.

3. The sponsor post a bounty (on a web site, a mailing list, etc) : a 
description of his problem and how much he is willing to pay to have 
resolved, along with whatever constraint must be met for the bounty to 
be paid (ie: deadline).  This is usually done informally on the basis of 
honor, so some level of trust in the sponsor is assumed.

4. An interested dev publically announce his intent to solve the problem 
and claim the bounty.  Again, some level of trust that he *will* solve 
the problem is assumed, as the intent announcement inhibit other 
potential claimer.

5. Once the claimer is done, he publically announce it.

6. The sponsor evaluate the result, see if it meet his needs and 
constraints, and eventually pay the bounty (by Paypal, for exemple).


Some people will say there is too much trust involved here and that the 
process should be formalized, but I disagree.  Some escrow mechanisms 
have been tried in the past, and the overhead involved seem to be too 
much for the gain.  Bounties are good for small thing (fixing a bug, 
writing a driver, updating or translating a manual); larger project are 
better suited for formal contract, where it is assumed the "sponsor" 
(the client, really) do some project management and follow-up.

Also, bounties can be mutualized both way.  Many sponsors might be 
willing to pay a small amount that, once put together, represent a 
larger, more interesting amount for potential claimers.  This require 
some level of "bounty management", and this is what the Horde project 
does for example.

Another way to mutualize bounties is to have many devs working together 
toward a larger bounty that require too much work for a single dev, and 
splitting the amount.

Sorry if this is too long, I have gone overboard with my "executive 
summary" !

Etienne Goyer