Are projects like Cofundos useful to push open-source programming? [closed]

Question

Cofundos is a project where you can pay for tasks to be completed in open-source programs. If a developer solves this task, he will earn the money. Is this a good way to push open-source software?

Answer 1

No.

Joel Spolsky has talked about the phenomenon of people doing for free what they would never do for pay in the context of contributing to sites like Stack Overflow. People have all sorts of reasons for doing things for free:

• Helping out a friend or society.
• Fame and recognition.
• Hobby or passtime.
• Building a resume.
• Learning about the world around them.

When you offer money it either destroys the purpose of doing something ("It's not a hobby if I get paid—it's a job.") or reduces the intrinsic value of doing it ("I'm not helping out society—I'm helping out me."). The same is true for Open Source contributions.

People do get paid for Open Source work. But normally by companies who are using Open Source software and need certain features and fixes. Sometimes they are full time, but often it's just submitting a bug fix or feature so that it will be carried to the next release. But that happens because the project is useful to the company.

So a better way to "push" Open Source is to use Open Source. If a project is missing a feature, you'll need to add it yourself or find someone else who will. Any scheme that offers money for a feature directly will likely not work. And if the feature does get added, it'll be added by someone who wants to get paid rather than someone who wants better software.

Answer 2

Well if you absolutely need a new feature in a program and you can't contribute, then sure. Otherwise I don't see why you don't just do it. You'll learn more by doing it yourself.