Miro Asks Users To "Adopt" Lines of Source 178
Posted
by
kdawson
from the pray-you-don't-get-refactored dept.
from the pray-you-don't-get-refactored dept.
soDean writes "The FOSS video player / downloader Miro is asking its users to support development by 'adopting' a line of source code for $4 a month. Each adopted line of code comes personalized with a little avatar character that will grow older over the year. PCF, which makes Miro, says they think the project is the first of its kind and they believe it's a chance to 'to have a truly bottom up funding base.'"
Smart FOSS Marketing! (Score:4, Insightful)
Finally an Open Source project with some real marketing geniuses on board! That alone deserves celebration.
I don't think this will quite work, but it's a step in the right direction. Will users get to pick which line they adopt? You could even imagine an auction system. Some lines might become very trendy: "I own the main function declaration of the program, but that cost me $500".
I'll ask the people on my entrepreneur network [fairsoftware.net] if they like the model!
Re:Smart FOSS Marketing! (Score:4, Insightful)
Change $4 to $1 and they might get more bites.
The Sims (Score:5, Insightful)
Now the developers at Miro will spend all their time making sure their emoticons age properly instead of actually coding!
Re:$4 a line?? (Score:3, Insightful)
Can't tell for sure if you're joking, but the average commercial programmer only generates something like 10 SLOCS per day (can't remember the exact number). Hopefully companies are paying their developers more than $40 per day :).
Way to make a killing (Score:3, Insightful)
At $4/month that would be a nice way to make a killing in profits.
Of course the result will be something roughly like the whole pixel advertising schemes in the end and Miro itself will suck, but hats off for the a good scam to make money of software.
Whole Function or Class (Score:5, Insightful)
If they let you adopt a whole function or even a whole class, this could be a cool way of not only making money but also minimising bugs.
People who adopt are likely going to read the code they get so this is a good way to get lots of eyes on the source.
Just a thought..
Re:Smart FOSS Marketing! (Score:1, Insightful)
Can I adopt a comment?
Re:Smart FOSS Marketing! (Score:2, Insightful)
$4 per line per month?????? This must be the most expensive code in history. What are these guys smoking?
Re:Smart FOSS Marketing! (Score:3, Insightful)
Nonsense.
Do you really, honestly think that there is even a remote possibility that they'll have more adopters than lines of code? Or even close?
Re:$4 a line?? (Score:4, Insightful)
Hah, I know! I write thousands of lines of code a day!
My coworkers keep telling me I could do the same thing in just 10 lines of code of decent, maintainable code by refactoring and using abstraction, but I'm pretty sure they're all just slackers.
Re:$4 a line?? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:$4 a line?? (Score:3, Insightful)
Don't forget the 1/2 of your time you spend researching, writing documentation, and going to meetings.
Working as a professional software developer is a lot different than hacking around on your 10k line hobby project.
Re:Smart FOSS Marketing! (Score:3, Insightful)