opensoul.org - Give back to the community Changestag:www.opensoul.org,2009:/2009/1/9/give-back-to-the-community/changesMephisto Drax2009-01-09T14:21:30Zbrandontag:www.opensoul.org,2009-01-09:515:22009-01-09T14:21:30ZGive back to the community<p>In our latest client project, we make use of at least 20 open source projects, from our beloved <a href="http://rubyonrails">Rails</a>, to great testing frameworks like <a href="http://rspec.info">RSpec</a>, to plugins like <a href="http://www.thoughtbot.com/projects/paperclip">Paperclip</a>, to server-side software like <a href="http://www.modrails.com/">Passenger</a>, and many more. While we are appreciative of the hard work that goes into creating those projects for the first 2 seconds after we find them, we often take these libraries for granted.</p>
<p>As a small development company, we need any advantage we can get. It is the vibrant open source ecosystem that gives us a competitive advantage against the big guns. An not only do <em>we</em> benefit from the work of the community, our clients get more sophisticated software that costs less. Everyone wins.</p>
<p>We try to do our part to contribute back to the community, but our contributions definitely aren’t worth what we get out of the community. So we’ve come up with an idea…</p>
<p>At <a href="http://collectiveidea.com">Collective Idea</a>, any time we use an open source library in a project, we’re going to make a $10 donation on behalf of our clients to that project. For our client, the cost is small: a couple hundred dollars in exchange for thousands of dollars worth of savings and better software.</p>
<p>We encourage you to do the same.</p>
<h3>Project Maintainers</h3>
<p>If you maintain a project on GitHub, do yourself a favor and make it easier for us to donate. GitHub <a href="http://github.com/blog/57-getting-paid-the-open-source-way">lets you add your PayPal account</a> to the project so all we have to do is click a button.</p>brandontag:www.opensoul.org,2009-01-09:514:12009-01-09T14:07:22ZGiving back to the community<blockquote>
<p>If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of Giants.
–Isaac Newton</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In our latest client project, we make us of at least 20 open source projects, from our beloved <a href="http://rubyonrails">Rails</a>, to great testing frameworks like <a href="http://rspec.info">RSpec</a>, to plugins like <a href="http://www.thoughtbot.com/projects/paperclip">Paperclip</a>, to server-side software like <a href="http://www.modrails.com/">Passenger</a>, and many more. While we are appreciative of the hard work that goes into creating those projects for the first 2 seconds after we find them, we often take these libraries for granted.</p>
<p>As a small development company, we need any advantage we can get. It is the vibrant open source ecosystem that gives us a competitive advantage against the big guns. An not only do we benefit from the work of the community, our clients get more sophisticated software that costs less. Everyone wins.</p>
<p>We try to do our part to contribute back to the community, but our contributions definitely aren’t worth what we get out of the community. So we’ve come up with an idea…</p>
<p>At <a href="http://collectiveidea.com">Collective Idea</a>, any time we use an open source library in a project, we’re going to make a donation to that project. We’re starting off small: $10. It’s not much, but it’s the least we can do. And if everyone does it, we’ll all be better off.</p>