Re: Need Leadership

["natan yellin" <aantny gmail com>]

On Fri, Jun 27, 2008 at 3:48 PM, Who <mailforwho googlemail com> wrote:

2008/6/27 natan yellin <aantny gmail com>:

> One thing I'd like to add on to my last reply:
>
> On Fri, Jun 27, 2008 at 2:56 PM, natan yellin <aantny gmail com> wrote:
>>
>> On Fri, Jun 27, 2008 at 2:29 PM, Thomas H.P. Andersen <phomes gmail com>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> On Wed, Jun 25, 2008 at 2:00 PM, Rodrigo Moya <rodrigo gnome-db org>
>>> wrote:
>>> > On Tue, 2008-06-24 at 12:27 +0300, natan yellin wrote:
>>> >> 1. Host an annual developer awards contest. Apple does it, and there's
>>> >> really no reason why we shouldn't as well. The system would have to be
>>> >> adapted a bit, but it _is_ doable. Like it or not, shiny prizes and
>>> >> recognition help attract developers.
>>> >>
>>> > this sounds good to me, if the Foundation has money, we could have
>>> > every
>>> > year a contest for the "coolest GNOME project of the year". GSoC gets
>>> > us
>>> > new developers mainly because of the prizes, so it is a good idea I
>>> > think to have something similar
>>>
>>> I don't think money has to be involved at all. Recognition is all that
>>> matters. I remember seeing a talk by Leslie Hawthorn where she said
>>> that what the students in google's soc primarily cared about was the
>>> t-shirt. The money was just a nice extra.
>
> The money is also a way for people to justify their effort. Even if they
> care about the t-shirt more, they wont spend their time trying to get it.

I think for a lot of people the money is not just a way to justify
their effort, but to make the proposition feasible - if you can get a
paid software internship then even if you really love GNOME, being
short on cash makes the decision for you.

Sorry, I should have explained better. My point was that the some of the people you mention below (who want to spend the summer hacking on GNOME) wouldn't be able to do it if it wasn't for the money. Even if the shirt is the most important thing, it's hard to justify- or as you mentioned, finance- a decision like that if there's no cash at all involved.

You probably wouldn't get involved with something like GSOC unles you
'cared more about the tshirt' - students can likely get more money
elsewhere - what I think is important is that regardless of how much
they care about GNOME, want to hack on it, etc, it just isn't
financially possible to spend your summer _not_ earning money, and if
you're good with software, you'll likely end up with a software
internship, and consequently much less energy/time to spend on GNOME. 

Jonathan

-Natan