Anyone reading the RISC OS Open Ltd forum, or who spoke to the team at the recent Wakefield Show or attended their theatre talk, will be aware that a bounty scheme has been brewing. The scheme provides a mechanism whereby developers could receive a cash reward for results in those areas that users have deemed worthy enough to contribute towards.
Such a bounty scheme could be beneficial to both developers and users alike, and therefore to the operating system and our little community as a whole. It can benefit developers because it can provide direction, by letting them know what areas the users are most interested in seeing developed, and it can of course provide an incentive in the form of the bounty. It can benefit users because, by getting behind the bounty scheme and contributing, users can influence developers by providing said bounty.
The scheme and relevant pages have actually been on the site for a while now (and may or may not have inspired The Icon Bar’s April Fool this year), but today it has been formally announced with the following press release:
Development of RISC OS has been increasing in pace since the first batch of source code was published here on the 19th May 2007. There have been people purchasing the development tools from us all over the globe, from the US through Europe, Russia and out to New Zealand and Australia. We’re seeing more and more people getting stuck in and contributing to the future of the OS.
We are extremely grateful to all of those who are contributing their time and energy in return for little more than the knowledge that they have contributed. Things being the way they are, however, it’s sometimes difficult to find the time to put into such a labour of love. What could sometimes help an enthusiastic developer to find a bit of extra free time is a small financial reward. And we think there is a way to do this: the ROOL Bounty Scheme. It is an opportunity for the RISC OS community as a whole to make their voices heard by voting with their wallets…
How can I help?
Just pick a bounty (or maybe more than one) that you feel deserves more attention and make a donation to it. We will hold the donations until such a time as someone says “I can do that!”. We will then reserve that ‘pot’ of money for that person (or it could be a team). If they deliver the goods, they get the cash. Simple!
We are also very pleased to hear your ideas on what would make a good bounty. Head over to our forum on the subject to join in there.
What if the unexpected happens…?
There are, of course, some ins and outs relating to how the bounty scheme needs to work. You can find all of the juicy details here.