Response report

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Response report
by Eric Laffoon on Monday 18/Oct/2004, @18:04

Hello everyone! I want to publicly thank the 28 people (so far) who stepped up and responded, as well as Chris who insists this was already on his do list. ;-) we have easily exceeded replacing David's lost sponsorship money. What that means is that our annual average income from donations is back over $300 a month. Combined with sponsorships that means we are close to the amount it costs to cover Andras and Michal every month when you average it out. This is really good news and I'm enjoying a much lower stress level. THANK YOU! This does not mean if you're reading this late that we have no further use for assistance, but it does mean you should definitely not send me half your grocery money in fear the project might collapse. ;-)

Here are a few reasons why it is good to be a little bit ahead...

* Our largest sponsor is Carlos Woelz in Brazil. He contributes quarterly and is a banker in the volatile area of investments. Should he encounter difficulty any quarter and not be able to contribute... We're back to talking large dollar deficits.

* Given that I pay Andras and Michal basically what it costs to pay their bills I really like to be able to give out a nice bonus over the holidays so that they can have some fun and do something nice or get something they need.

* Our current level of community support, while really excellent, has little for equipment upgrades.

* My income falls to a fraction of my expenses in January and February and I live on my savings from the holiday season... in 2004 we received a total of $150 in donations not from sponsorships, so I should have funds in reserve there too.

* In directing this project I easily spend 20-30 hours a week on oversight, development and public interface. Some weeks I spend even more time and work suffers. I have also spent thousands of dollars of my own money on the project. Andras assures me it's okay for me to accept something in return without feeling guilty. ;-)

* There has been some interest expressed in developing a Flash/SVG plugin. We are not really limited to our current levels. We can choose as a community to do more. This is just one example of where we could expand our efforts.

* I _REALLY_ hate asking for money. That's why I like sponsorships. Donations always fluctuated with releases and now that we release with KDE we don't get the same kick. It would be so cool if I had a buffer from here through the holidays and the first of the year without having to ask again. ;-)

So if it is stressful for you to contribute then go ahead and feel good that you can do it some other time. (Don't forget!) If you just found out and wanted to really make a difference then it's not too late to get in on the fun. If I find that we've done "too well" I will open a discussion with the community on what direction to take extending our development.

Thanks again to all those who support our project! I'm getting ready to leave on a road trip to work a holiday show for five long days, mostly 11 hours. I'm leaving in less than 24 hours so I have to get busy. I will have wifi and cat5 in my hotel so I can check email and see how things are going. I just want to say that I really appreciate the great comments from contributors and I'm really happy to be able to head up this project which has been one of the best experiences of my life. Our users ROCK!

Related Links

·   Articles on Community and Events
·   Also by Eric Laffoon
·   Contact author

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Re: Response report
by Sean Pecor on Tuesday 19/Oct/2004, @14:57

I just threw $200 in your direction. Enjoy the road trip!

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Re: Response report
by KDE User on Tuesday 19/Oct/2004, @15:45

Whoa, nice to know KDE has friends like you. :)

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Re: Response report
by Eric Laffoon on Thursday 21/Oct/2004, @02:32

Thanks Sean! It's good to have support from the "Mad Scientists" out there. BTW the road trip is fun so far, but too tiring. I may have to take up sleeping. ;-)

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Re: Response report
by SYNERGiST on Thursday 21/Oct/2004, @05:01

Cool that it worked out whith "sponsors" :P
Any news on when the new website should be up and when a new version of quanta is out? ... or whar are you guys doing in quanta project right now?

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Re: Response report
by Andras Mantia on Thursday 21/Oct/2004, @09:53

I really except that Eric will put the new site in the CVS, so it can be improved and made publicly available soon.
The new version of Quanta will be out when the new version of KDE. Check the KDE release plan (both for 3.3.x and 3.4.x). If the KDE release is delayed and we have enough new goodies we may have an interim BE release.
We are working on Quanta. ;-) Right now I'm trying to improve the script language support.

Andras

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