Stimulating the development of free software

Question

linux

I will say right away that all of the following are just dreams.

Sitting on Linux, at times I feel the lack of some elementary applications. I myself am not a programmer, but for some reason it seems to me that even an amateur could write the same normal GUI shell for processing jpg / pdf / djvu, etc., based on all sorts of state scripts and image media.

So, there is a crowd of users who need some kind of software. There are a lot of people who can make this software, but they don’t do it because there is no motivation.

Let's say a project has appeared on which the linux community is compiling a list of what they still lack. The shortage can be expressed in the total price that users are willing to donate to create software or something else. And then, let's say, 500 people want a glamorous and convenient document processor and each of them is ready to give 100 rubles (ridiculous money) and a person appears (freelancer?) Who is ready to write such software for 40,000 rubles and make it open-source, mb even cross-platform. And 10,000 rubles - for the development of the service.

Bottom line: users are happy, the programmer is happy, free software has taken another step forward, the organizer is also full.

It seems to me that if this is all correctly beaten, then this can help solve some of the problems with the lack of open source software. And I'm writing here because it's interesting to hear other people's thoughts on this topic. Well, suddenly someone will bring it all to mind)

Answer 1

>... it seems to me that even an amateur could write the same normal GUI shell for processing jpg/pdf/djvu, etc., based on all sorts of state scripts and image media.
Of course, even an amateur could. That's just the quality will be appropriate - "amateur".

Answer 2

It also occurred to me, to stir up something like a kickstarter ... But it seems to me that such a financing scheme will not work - 50 thousand rubles, which you gave as an example, seems to me a characteristic figure, and such an amount is enough to do something something talented, but on the knee, and for the same thing, but beautiful and bug-free, you need 10-20 times more ...
I.e. I think such a fund will work, but as an addition to some powerful source - to the state or to someone like Mark Shuttleworth.
By the way, perhaps the Arab oil states can. can act as such a sponsor. Or our Skolkovo, but in an alternate reality...