
How do you like our new way to fund software by teaming up? (microPledge public launch) - benhoyt
http://blog.micropledge.com/2007/08/micropledge-public-launch/
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alex_c
Very cool... I think I remember seeing this concept discussed on Slashdot a
few years back.

Two of the biggest problems in software development are - the client gives
incomplete or wrong requirements, or the programmer doesn't implement them
correctly. How are you going to keep everyone happy when the programmer
decides the software is deliverable, but the client(s) disagree?

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benhoyt
Cheers for the feedback. Good questions ... spec disagreement is one of the
things we're mulling over.

Currently it's the pledgers (the "clients") who have the vote on whether the
releases are any good, or whether or not they're according to spec. But we've
got in mind an agreements system for spec arguments like this. For later --
for now we're going to keep a close eye on things and see how they go.

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mynameishere
Good luck. I guess...how do I say this? There are some aspects to this that
you're either missing or not highlighting.

First, this page:

<http://micropledge.com/help>

SHOULD explain exactly who owns what when software is made. Do the pledgers
have any ownership? Just the coders? Do you force coders to use GPL? I'm sure
you explain this somewhere, but it needs to be more clear, and I'm not going
to do a lot of research...

Anyway. More importantly...Software, as soon as you leave the YC forcefield
[1], is extremely expensive to produce. My company's tiny projects are billed
in the upper 6-figure range. Are you going to get anyone "pledging" USD
750,000 for anything non-trivial?

[1] Remember that the 15,000 dollars or whatever YC gives people is just a
token, maybe just a legal formality, to ensure their status as "investors".
What they really give is exposure and advice and community. If you can get
people pledging 15K, it still isn't enough.

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staunch
Congratulations. I'm paying close attention and hope things go well for you
guys. I'll be promoting this at the earliest opportunity.

Couple things I noticed:

1\. It's not clear what's in it for microPledge. You should be open about the
fact that you're a business and not an open source lovefest organization.

2\. Those JPEGs on main page should be replaced with GIF/PNG. The artifacts
are nasty.

3\. Might want to change the humorous text on "I agree" checkbox to just say
"I consent to the agreement" otherwise you're possibly weakening your legal
protection.

Also, you might want to monitor/search some mailing lists and _very_ tactfully
suggest microPledge as a solution to "we don't have time to do that feature
now/its not a priority" situations.

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benhoyt
Thanks for that. Problem: we're both an open source love-fest organisation
_and_ a business. :-)

From our help: "microPledge has intentionally arranged the fee structure to
encourage free software. If you are willing to give something away, then so
are we." -- <http://micropledge.com/help/funding#licenses>

Funny about the main page JPEGs (we did that for size, but looks like we might
have to change back). On my screen I can't see any artifacts, but on some
people's, yeah, they're quite bad.

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ivankirigin
As a general rule, make non-natural textures into png and natural textures
into jpg. Natural means a real picture, like a face, a complicated screen-
shot, or your office. Unnatural is something like a with simpler colors and
flat textures.

A screenshot of a webpage has potential artifacts in shrunken fonts when
stored in jpeg.

~~~
kingnothing
Do keep in mind that IE doesn't have support for transparency in PNG graphics,
however.

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waleedka
Congratulations for the launch. I remember this project being in development
some time ago. Good luck.

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altano
You need to find some way of seeding the current projects. The site looks
baron as is. Perhaps you can pledge on a few projects that you could use
internally.

~~~
benhoyt
Yeah, true. We've done some of that, and it looks like our users are slowly
starting to do the same. It's up to you guys now:
<http://micropledge.com/pledge> :-)

Good to hear the site looks like a British nobleman as is. ;-)

