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   131 .IX Title "FSF-FUNDING 7"

   132 .TH FSF-FUNDING 7 "2004-11-05" "gcc-3.4.3" "GNU"

   133 .SH "NAME"

   134 fsf\-funding \- Funding Free Software

   135 .SH "DESCRIPTION"

   136 .IX Header "DESCRIPTION"

   137 .Sh "Funding Free Software"

   138 .IX Subsection "Funding Free Software"

   139 If you want to have more free software a few years from now, it makes

   140 sense for you to help encourage people to contribute funds for its

   141 development.  The most effective approach known is to encourage

   142 commercial redistributors to donate.

   143 .PP

   144 Users of free software systems can boost the pace of development by

   145 encouraging for-a-fee distributors to donate part of their selling price

   146 to free software developers\-\-\-the Free Software Foundation, and others.

   147 .PP

   148 The way to convince distributors to do this is to demand it and expect

   149 it from them.  So when you compare distributors, judge them partly by

   150 how much they give to free software development.  Show distributors

   151 they must compete to be the one who gives the most.

   152 .PP

   153 To make this approach work, you must insist on numbers that you can

   154 compare, such as, ``We will donate ten dollars to the Frobnitz project

   155 for each disk sold.''  Don't be satisfied with a vague promise, such as

   156 ``A portion of the profits are donated,'' since it doesn't give a basis

   157 for comparison.

   158 .PP

   159 Even a precise fraction ``of the profits from this disk'' is not very

   160 meaningful, since creative accounting and unrelated business decisions

   161 can greatly alter what fraction of the sales price counts as profit.

   162 If the price you pay is \f(CW$50\fR, ten percent of the profit is probably

   163 less than a dollar; it might be a few cents, or nothing at all.

   164 .PP

   165 Some redistributors do development work themselves.  This is useful too;

   166 but to keep everyone honest, you need to inquire how much they do, and

   167 what kind.  Some kinds of development make much more long-term

   168 difference than others.  For example, maintaining a separate version of

   169 a program contributes very little; maintaining the standard version of a

   170 program for the whole community contributes much.  Easy new ports

   171 contribute little, since someone else would surely do them; difficult

   172 ports such as adding a new \s-1CPU\s0 to the \s-1GNU\s0 Compiler Collection contribute more;

   173 major new features or packages contribute the most.

   174 .PP

   175 By establishing the idea that supporting further development is ``the

   176 proper thing to do'' when distributing free software for a fee, we can

   177 assure a steady flow of resources into making more free software.

   178 .SH "SEE ALSO"

   179 .IX Header "SEE ALSO"

   180 \&\fIgpl\fR\|(7), \fIgfdl\fR\|(7).

   181 .SH "COPYRIGHT"

   182 .IX Header "COPYRIGHT"

   183 Copyright (c) 1994 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

   184 Verbatim copying and redistribution of this section is permitted

   185 without royalty; alteration is not permitted.