Am Mon, 26 Jul 2004 15:03:52 +0100 hat Timwi <timwi(a)gmx.net> geschrieben:
Frithjof Engel wrote:
I think this will lead to worse software, because
it shifts the focus
from "writing good software" to "making money/win the game". There
have
been several studies in the past on this topic:
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/motivation.html
This is well-known study, but it has a week point.
They state, "Creativity and intrinsic interest diminish if task is done
for gain" but actually the only things they can compare are
* people doing open software for fun and entertainment; and
* people who are employees and have to develop the uninteresting parts
of software as part of their job.
The study does not take into account the possibility of "paid
volunteers", because there have been few such systems in the past.
Sadly, I don't know much about programming and so my question may appear
"stupid",
but what sort of contract are you going to make with a "paid volunteer"?
What sort of quality can be guaranteed by that sort of job?
Does one have to prove his abilities before taking on the job?
If one does a coding job out of his/her own motivation it might be buggy
and the code is going to be revised.
Any found bugs are going to be corrected by the ones caring most.
Will the rewarded developer only be rewarded after there is no bugs found
anymore? Or at least not for the past two weeks?
But when you say you pay him like an artist (and some programmers if not
many are artists indeed) is he responsible for his mistakes? Is it the job
of "unrewarded volunteers" to correct bugs?
I can imagine it's a good idea to have that bounty thing when you do
commercial open source programming. So you can get something done for some
money. But with a free project accomplished by a somewhat enthusiastic
community it's going to be difficult.
Are you going to "reward" writers for badly needed articles on wikipedia
too later on? Or the ones that try to preserve a certain level of quality
of the articles?
I got the impression that any voluntary work on a project like wikipedia
is going to cause a lot of discord and distrust.
With a project like say kde or gnome on the other hand I think it could be
handled better and might be pretty useful.
Hmm, I might change my mind in the not too distant future but at the
moment that's my two cents.
--manfred
If someone wants to do uninteresting programming for money, they can get
a better pay at a real job. A Bazaar-like system like the one I'm
proposing is different: payment provides motivation to get involved, but
developers would still be working on the things they personally find
interesting. Hence, I believe, "creativity and intrinsic interest" will
be preserved.
Timwi