I'm not sure if any of these free software foundations that take signifant money actually do anything tangible to improve actual software.
It's not just obvious grifts like Mozilla and Gnome's foundations. What's the point of these organizations if not to directly fund their software projects? All this wishy-washy stuff like creating awareness, merchandise stands at conferences, let alone nonsense like outreach, are utterly irrelevant to the projects that spawned these organizations.
> What's the point of these organizations if not to directly fund their software projects?
Organizing conferences perhaps, but I would hope that those are largely funded by their registration fees and sponsors? Some conferences (including some from Linux Foundation) seem to be overpriced, though others have cheaper pricing tiers or are free to attend.
Indirect funding for software projects is OK too - for example getting grants from other organizations.
It would be nice to have annual reports that explain specifically which projects/developers are funded based on the foundation's activities, by how much, and from which specific activities?
Free-beer foundations as well I imagine.
We need more of those
I'm not sure if any of these free software foundations that take signifant money actually do anything tangible to improve actual software.
It's not just obvious grifts like Mozilla and Gnome's foundations. What's the point of these organizations if not to directly fund their software projects? All this wishy-washy stuff like creating awareness, merchandise stands at conferences, let alone nonsense like outreach, are utterly irrelevant to the projects that spawned these organizations.
> What's the point of these organizations if not to directly fund their software projects?
Organizing conferences perhaps, but I would hope that those are largely funded by their registration fees and sponsors? Some conferences (including some from Linux Foundation) seem to be overpriced, though others have cheaper pricing tiers or are free to attend.
Indirect funding for software projects is OK too - for example getting grants from other organizations.
It would be nice to have annual reports that explain specifically which projects/developers are funded based on the foundation's activities, by how much, and from which specific activities?