Re: [Gimp-developer] How much money to make a dent in GIMP 2.8?

[Paul Slocum <paul slocum gmail com>]

I'm an embedded systems programmer and user interface designer with 15
years professional experience.  I was previously doing VxWorks
programming and am now starting up an iOS app company (all my iOS
design work is done in GIMP).  I live in New York, and I also have
some experience in advertising and public relations.

I've been pondering this idea for a while of trying to figure out a
way to inject some money into GIMP.  I just emailed because I wanted
to get an idea of what kind of money would be required and whether the
developers would be open to such an idea -- I don't have that kind of
money now, but I'm pretty confident that I could raise it if I put my
mind to it.  I would probably apply for a grant that would pay for me
to work on the project for a year, managing and contributing where I
can, and raising the money to hire one or two GIMP programmers to work
on the project full time.

What I would want to get out of it is a solid release of 2.8 for
Windows, Mac, and Linux.  Personally, what I really need is CMYK and
layer folders.  I don't really have any agenda other than that, and
the voice that a part-time manager would typically have in a project
like this.  I think 2.8 already addresses all my major feature needs
and user interface complaints, so I just want to get it out.

It would probably be 2013 before I could realistically make anything
happen with this, but this is good information that you guys are
providing, and I'll be thinking about it.  I'm glad that you think the
programmers would be open to getting paid. :)  Where are most of the
programmers for GIMP located?  Is there some place I could find out
more information about the programmers and people who work on GIMP?

-paul

On Mon, Mar 5, 2012 at 2:00 AM, Mukund Sivaraman <muks banu com> wrote:
> Hi
>
> On Mon, Mar 05, 2012 at 08:41:08AM +0200, Alexia Death wrote:
>> > So what kind of money do you think would it take to catch up?  Or to
>> > at least make a significant step towards catching up?
>> Whatever it takes to get one or two of our lead developers to work on
>> GIMP full time. Just hiring 2 blokes off the street will not do.
>> Michael Natterer has done some paid for work for GTK through his
>> company I believe,  but as far as I know he is not interested in
>> turning a hobby into a job... Because jobs come with a boss who can
>> boss you around and that is no fun.  Same may be true for others.
>>
>> Having a paid developer on the team has been discussed before. there
>> is no actual opposition to the idea, but nobody has stepped up to
>> handle the paperwork and manager duties:P
>
> The paperwork and manager duties are straightforward.
>
> I'd like to first see a serious proposal first on what an investor
> wants out of it, and what money they're willing to put in.  Talking
> briefly about investing is one thing, but making schedules and
> projections for them takes time.  If there is a serious interest, we
> can talk about it. Tell us about your background.
>
> Some developers will indeed be interested in working on GIMP and GEGL
> full-time, and IMO, it'll be good for GIMP and GEGL's development
> generally.  Other free software projects are prospering due to
> commercial development.
>
>                Mukund