Sponsorship vs. Begging

I've been debating this in my head for the last few days, and would love to hear some of your opinions.

I have been considering either asking for donations or attempting to get some sort of sponsorship for the next version of Adsense Notfiier that I release.

The extension has always been open source and I have put hundreds of hours into it. It has been downloaded over 35,000 times from my site and from addons.mozilla.org

Has anyone had any experience asking for donations? What kind of "click-through-rate" did you get for it?

Are sponsorship and open source mutually exclusive, or would it be good exposure for someone to help out an open source project?

 

Interesting thread. Where might you expose the sponsor(s)?

 

I dont blame you and to be honest you deserve every cent.

I dont have any experience with creating a tool for public domain but how about making it a paid download for something like $1 - $35,000 isnt bad at all

Im sure Adsense freaks out there wouldnt mind paying $1 for it - I know I wouldnt, its a great tool.

 

I would if I could use PayPal. I'm not sure if I like the bank.

 

Thats a good point - for it to really work everyone would need to be using paypal. I too wouldnt give out my bank details.

 

In my opinion when you receive cash (or kind) for doing nothing, it is begging but When you receive cash (or kind) for exchanging your product or services, it is business. So why don't you think about business i.e. selling your product. After all you have worked hard and devoted your valuable time.

GK Awadhiya

 

Doesn't asking for money for the usage of an open source application somewhat defeating the purpose (but surely the spirit) of open source?

 

No, there are plenty of Open Source projects that get funding - the Linux kernel and Apache being two of the most obvious.

 

I don't know about the Linus kernel or the other thing you mentioned, but are those fundings given to them by someone to develop the open source application before it becomes available to the public? I just don't think you should make an open source application and then ask for money.

 

Thanks for all of the great responses so far.

My idea if I did do either, was to have a spot for them on the first time startup install page, like this example. That page shows up one time when you install or upgrade the extension or when you go to the "about" page. It will also be the new landing page for the extension on my site.

To JackBurtons point, I wouldn't stop development if I didnt get a sponsor or enough paypal donations. I release the product because I love helping the community, I use it myself, and it's good "exercise" programming-wise.

Looking around on Sourceforge last night, (the largest repository for Open Source projects) just about every project has a little "Donate to this project" button and I did come across some that were sponsored. So at least I know I'm not insane for thinking about it.

The paypal issue that phree brough up is a good point. I know that I have non-USA users. Is paypal not an option for them?

 

non-USA users use paypal too. heh

 

U could implement some new features in it, and make a freeware and another one where users must pay for in order to get the extra functions.

 

I've seen some projects do that (have a paid version with extra features), but I don't think i agree with it.

I'm not looking to hold anyone hostage to get a useful product or to be able to learn from the code.

I just want to make a few extra dollars off of all the hard work that I've put into it.

I notice that digitalpoint sends their quarterly newsletter out with a sponsor at the cost of $0.10 per registered keyword tracker user. Does anyone know if shawn has had a good time getting sponsors for that and have the sponsors been happy with the response?

 

SugarCRM is a great example of an opensource product that has both free, and professional paid versions available. They have built an extremely profitable and viable business around this. They sell the product, integration, and add-on services.

Also, there are plenty of other open-source apps out there that charge. Open-source does not it has to be free.

Mike

 

Hmmm, I'm liking trying to find a sponsor. What forum here should I post in for something like that?

I was thinking of doing it auction style. Start it at $0.005 per download, based off of the total as reported by addons.mozilla.org (around 35,000 - so $175) and increment it by $0.0025 min for each bid. Have the BIN at $0.05

Sponsorship would last for at least 90 days, or until the next version which ever is longer and there will only be one sponsor.

Am I insane? What do you think?