Re: Standard Library Interest?

[Marin David Condic <nobody@noplace.com>]

With your "snip" I can't tell if you agree with me or are poking fun of 
me. :-) ("You can't just count money...")

Assuming you agree, here's the reason I show concern for the monetary 
aspects. No matter *how* a library gets built, *someone* is going to 
pay. Even if it was totally a volunteer effort - the volunteers end up 
funding it with their sweat equity. Even if the vendors get the library 
"free" (as in "free beer"), it still costs them money because they have 
to pay someone to incorporate it into their releases, make sure it 
compiles & runs, answer questions about it when customers call, etc. So 
even when no obvious $$$ change hands, $$$ are expended.

Given that no matter what you do, you will be dealing with an outflow of 
$$$, it would be wise to figure out how that's going to work up front. 
Volunteer efforts only go so far before everyone's wife starts insisting 
that you stop wasting time in front of the computer (mine is doing that 
as we speak! :-) and your kids want to go visit the Magic Kingdom. 
Volunteers tend to build whatever it is *they* want to whatever 
standards and quality *they* find acceptable. If you want to get a 
library that meets various expectations for style, quality, schedule, 
etc., its going to help a hell of a lot if there is some money in there 
greasing the skids. If you want to insure that the library is going to 
see continuous support and enhancement, some money thrown at it is going 
to do a lot more to insure that than all the idealistic volunteering 
we're likely to see. Long term success means it probably needs to be 
able to generate enough cash to pay a few salaries or it will likely 
flounder.

There are any nunmber of ways a library might be funded and not all of 
them involve someone writing a huge check up front. I discussed one 
option in the article I wrote for Ada Letters. It certainly isn't the 
only way to go - just one possible way. But whatever happens, I think 
those concerned with getting a library ought to put some thought into 
ways to fund its development and long term support.

MDC

Martin Dowie wrote:
> "Marin David Condic" <nobody@noplace.com> wrote in message
> news:3F8810C0.3080506@noplace.com...
> 
>>And that's a really critical issue for any library. You can't just count
> 
> [snip]
> 
>>money, but one way or another, it ought to be part of the plan.
> 
> 
> here here!
> 
> 


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Marin David Condic
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