MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Would you donate U$S10 to a group developers to build a better contentlister?

jharker · 01-08-2009, 01:52 AM

I haven't been around much recently, mostly because of thesis work. I should be away for another month or so, at which time I hope to have the thesis mostly wrapped up. In the meantime, it looks like the iLiad OS will be on the back burner for me, so some serious delays should be expected in the project.

I mention this because I'm currently looking for a job, as all near-graduates are, and the options are pretty slim, given the state of the economy. I've been applying to job listings for months and not really getting anywhere.

Anyway, at one point in my search I seriously considered whether I could work on iLiad OS and related projects as a full-time job, supported by some combination of donations and advertising revenue. I'm a big e-book enthusiast and would love to work on it seriously, full time. And, of course, it would expand my resume in new (and potentially more employ-able) directions for the future.

Ultimately, however, I decided that it wouldn't be feasible. My reasons were roughly:

I don't want to step on anyone's toes. Many people are actively contributing to iLiad development, and I worry that trying to make money by expanding other peoples' work would offend everyone who works on it for free!
Small user base. E-books are still a niche market, and within that market the iLiad is even smaller. Many major open-source development projects can only afford a few full-time employees. It's not realistic to expect to make even a small living working on such a (relatively) small project.

But to answer the original post: If a developer started a FOSS project for an iLiad-compatible e-book ContentLister, and if they made a home page for the project, and if they put up a tip jar on the home page, AND if I actually HAD $10 to spare, then yes, I think I probably would donate.

01-08-2009, 01:52 AM	#26
jharker Developer Posts: 345 Karma: 3473 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA Device: iRex iLiad v1, Blackberry Tour, Kindle DX, iPad.	I haven't been around much recently, mostly because of thesis work. I should be away for another month or so, at which time I hope to have the thesis mostly wrapped up. In the meantime, it looks like the iLiad OS will be on the back burner for me, so some serious delays should be expected in the project. I mention this because I'm currently looking for a job, as all near-graduates are, and the options are pretty slim, given the state of the economy. I've been applying to job listings for months and not really getting anywhere. Anyway, at one point in my search I seriously considered whether I could work on iLiad OS and related projects as a full-time job, supported by some combination of donations and advertising revenue. I'm a big e-book enthusiast and would love to work on it seriously, full time. And, of course, it would expand my resume in new (and potentially more employ-able) directions for the future. Ultimately, however, I decided that it wouldn't be feasible. My reasons were roughly: I don't want to step on anyone's toes. Many people are actively contributing to iLiad development, and I worry that trying to make money by expanding other peoples' work would offend everyone who works on it for free! Small user base. E-books are still a niche market, and within that market the iLiad is even smaller. Many major open-source development projects can only afford a few full-time employees. It's not realistic to expect to make even a small living working on such a (relatively) small project. But to answer the original post: If a developer started a FOSS project for an iLiad-compatible e-book ContentLister, and if they made a home page for the project, and if they put up a tip jar on the home page, AND if I actually HAD $10 to spare, then yes, I think I probably would donate.