Re: I do not think Diaspora is a wise use of cash.

[I.Goldstein]

I do not think Diaspora is a wise use of cash.

There are far better free software projects to donate to. Diaspora raised more than 200k last year to write a simple web application, it's still not finished... and they need more?

Both http://opensource.appleseedproject.org/ and https://n-1.cc/ (elgg) are projects made on much small budgets and teams (appleseed is one guy AFAIK), and they're far better. Your money won't be efficiently used if donated to Diaspora.

I would pick some piece of free software you use often or you think Linux needs, and donate to that Smiley TBH the diaspora guys come off clueless when you watch their initial fund-raising video. The software itself is pretty bad and requires all these esoteric dependencies rather than using tried and tested libraries.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqxQgfQD24M

Genjix, I am sorry but your proposed software projects will be the in same place they are today years from now: in an obscure void. The developer's time invested in Diaspora might be overpriced but the fact is it has the marketability and the edge to be a mainstream piece of software in the future. Dumping Bitcoins towards your proposed nobodies would be a waste and probably only result in a bag of cheeto's on these neckbeard's desks.

It's great to see people derive profit from making great software alone but it will not make the majority of the software people use today. I continue to support donations toward Diaspora as it is because it is competitive. Maybe it isn't as efficient and "free" as you like but it remains to be the market leader in decentralized social networks. People will actually use it.

Anyways, this has to be said. I'm tired of hipsters dogging on practical work. It's about what people use and want. Licenses, time-tested libraries and neckbeard-wisdom can go fuck all. If it's usuable software and if people want it -- that is all that matters.

The fact that Diaspora has raised cash and continues to raise it means it has more value than your proposed projects will ever have. You have no basis to refute Diaspora except your hipster rhetoric.

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[fivebells]

I investigated diaspora when people were slamming it the other day on HN.  Installing it took some unix experience and reference to bug reports, but that is not too surprising for alpha software.  I got it running in developer mode pretty painlessly, seemed to work pretty well.  There are people actually using it for its intended purpose out there, and a large group of volunteers contributing to it (my wife has a friend who contributes about half a day a week to QA and tech support of the diaspora software.  At the time I investigated, I knew of his interest in diaspora, but did not know about his volunteering for it.  I installed it without his help, using only documentation available on the web.) 

There is an account of how they used their earlier funding and a summary of their expenditures and progress linked from their donate page.  They have been drawing a salary of $28k each plus a housing allowance, which seems very modest and worthwhile, considering the progress they have made.  It seems like a vibrant project with a good chance of meeting its intended goals, goals which I fully support.

[netrin]

If we consider the Diaspora development in and of itself, I believe they are consuming a lot of money and time in relation to the quantity and quality of their output. Whether it is worth it, is entirely up to whomever donates. One should give where one feels confidence.

[BorderBits]

Anyways, this has to be said. I'm tired of hipsters dogging on practical work. It's about what people use and want.

I want to use a Woolong device.  Is there anyone who can do some practical work toward that? 

[Immanuel Girth]

Hello Atlas. Good to see you around these parts again.

[Immanual Stop]

Yes, it's good to see you back Atlas 

[kiyote]

Why do people seem to think that $200,000 is a lot of seed money?  That's actually next to nothing for a tech startup.  Or is it just that people confuse pet projects that will be dropped in a month or two with actual businesses?

kiyote

[repentance]

Why do people seem to think that $200,000 is a lot of seed money?  That's actually next to nothing for a tech startup.  Or is it just that people confuse pet projects that will be dropped in a month or two with actual businesses?

kiyote

It's not a lot of seed money, but it should allow an organisation to produce something which helps them secure actual venture capital rather than continuing to rely on donations.

[kiyote]

It's most likely a planned strategy.  Although it usually takes years to qualify for VC funding, Disporea has had enough buzz around it that they could probably have people knocking on their door.  But the longer they last without it, which is made easy for them by all the donations they're getting, the larger percentage of the business they retain if they ever do decide to seek out outside funding.

[Immanual Go]

Hey buddy! Missed you!

[netrin]

I have also donated, but I've been a donation slut of late. It strikes me as odd that the developers of a distributed social network based on cryptography would need to be nudged to accept bitcoin and only then clumsily.

[Causer Fons]

a 200k plus development budget for diaspora is not very much in the context of the value of facebook (tens of billions of USD),
perhaps the fact that they have to resort to donations indicates fundamental flaws in the financing model of open source projects (which perhaps should be based more upon a gift economy where one gets recognition / credentials by being a giver?)

perhaps in the future such projects will be BTC funded by individuals seeking to gain kudos for their online identities (public-key based ID network..)