Is Diaspora the Future of Free Software Funding? 146
Glyn Moody writes "Diaspora, the free software project to create a distributed version of Facebook, has been much in the news recently — not least because it has raised $170,000 in just a few weeks. But what's also interesting is the way they've raised that money: through a series of graded rewards for pledges of financial support. This is an approach adopted by some forward-thinking musicians: for example, Jill Sobule funded her last album in the same way, garnering $75,000 in pledges from fans. Is this a model that could be applied to other free software projects, or is it just a one-off?"
Pledges eh? (Score:2, Interesting)
"Prior Art" (Score:4, Interesting)
How is this different from the model used for NPR pledge drives? Its just another thing you can get for free, but that if you feel has value to you, you can/should help fund so it doesn't go away... and you get prizes at various levels of contribution. It's been working since the 70s for NPR, it should work here, too, assuming the people involved in using the software aren't the same people who don't contribute to their local NPR/PBS station.
Opera Unite (Score:1, Interesting)
Diaspora is just a poor mans Opera Unite from what I can tell.
Surely Opera own patents on this?
Where's the CODE? (Score:3, Interesting)
They got all this cash and... is there a code repository or something?
Optimizing donations (Score:5, Interesting)
Interesting the way their donations are structured:
Pledge $10 or more
Get a CD, note, and a bunch of cool diaspora stickers
Pledge $25 or more
Get a CD, note, and a bunch of cool diaspora stickers, and a awesome diaspora t-shirt!
Pledge $50 or more
Get all the above stuff, plus 1 month free of our turnkey hosted service (when it becomes available), or free phone support for 1 month if you host your own.
Pledge $100 or more
Get all the above stuff, plus 3 month free of our turnkey hosted service (when it becomes available), or free phone support for 3 months if you host your own.
Pledge $350 or more
Get all the above stuff, plus 1 year free of our turnkey hosted service (when it becomes available), and free phone support for 1 year if you host your own.
Pledge $1,000 or more [5 only]
Get all of the above stuff, plus access to the nightly build server for Diaspora, so you can check out our progress all summer!
Pledge $2,000 or more [4 only]
Get everything above, plus we will send you a brand new computer fully configured so you can host your own Diaspora seed from right under your bed!
The actual physical goodies stop at $25, and every level after that is soft goods. When you have to send out a t-shirt at the $25 level and they're on the hook for international shipping costs, how much is actually left over for development?
I would have structured things a bit differently. Of course, this is with 20/20 hindsight with the knowledge that their project would get viral media coverage and the fundraising would exceed expectations.
Pledge $10 or more
Get an official sponsor certificate from the developers [really a PDF over email, no mailing expenses]
Pledge $25 or more
Get an official sponsor certificate, and a bunch of cool diaspora stickers
Pledge $50 or more
Get all the above stuff, plus an awesome diaspora coffee mug!
Pledge $100 or more
Get all the above stuff, plus a cool diaspora polo shirt!
Pledge $350 or more
Get all the above stuff, plus a rocking diaspora laptop courier bag!
Pledge $1,000 or more
[Something along the lines of what they did, but something tangible as well. I also would have upped the slots. Instead of 5 only, make it 50.]
Pledge $2,000 or more
[Something along the lines of what they did, but something tangible other than the computer. I also would have upped the slots. Instead of 4 only, make it 20.]
Pledge $10,000 or more
[Why not? Something special as a silver level sponsor.]
Pledge $25,000 or more
[Something special as a gold level sponsor.]
Pledge $50,000 or more
[Something special as a platinum level sponsor... possibly credit on the site?]
Pledge $100,000 or more
[Hey, why stop now? Appeal to peoples' greed. 1% founders shares or something along those lines. This puts a $10M valuation on the company which is amazing for something that's 4 guys and an idea of cloning the 800lb market-leading gorilla.]
Re:"Prior Art" (Score:1, Interesting)
What exactly is the big difference between a Diaspora t-shirt and an All Things Considered coffee mug? Except, of course, for the carrying capacity, etc. I'm just pointing out that most of the gifts I heard of in the last NPR pledge drive are just as personalized as the Diaspora items.
Also, I think of then NPR pledge drive as something for the future, but with more of a confirmed history. I recall one show going off the air during the recession; perhaps there were more. People who pledged ahead of time may have lost their reason for their contribution. I think both pledges are a gamble to a degree.
Re:I'm not advocating Diaspora, but... (Score:1, Interesting)
That's one of the things that turned me off initially as well, but the developer now seems to be motivated to get it finished. He's trying to get funds together (to live on, I assume) so that he can work on it full time. It's actually very far along, and all that's left is (a lot of) polishing.
Re:I'm not advocating Diaspora, but... (Score:3, Interesting)
I would never consider asking them for money (although I wouldn't turn it down if they offered :), but I did send them an email right before this storm hit, about working on a common protocol, but they never responded.