CD Distribution/Rates changed...

Morning...

    Well, after listening to some of the discussions here on the
lists, as well as some private ones, and after conferring with "the Core"
group, I've started to make some changes, starting with the CD
distributions.

    First off, for those that have already ordered, prior to the
changes, you are "Grandfather Claused".

    The changes that were made are designed to allow us to go one step
further towards making PostgreSQL a *viable* alternative to the commercial
offers: we are making it more "consumer driven".

    We currently have a "TODO" list of items that need to be
done...those that are being worked on, for the most part, are those that
one of the developers feels is important or requires for one of their
projects, which is the prime motivation for most coders doing work on it.

    The CD distributions have been changed in such a way as to provide
a revenue pool that can be tapped, as required, towards developing those
features that are needed, but nobody is really looking at.

    Broken down into two purchase options (1 CD, or a 3 CD
subscription), 50% of the cost will be used as "voting" power towards
those options that you require and would like to see done, or an overall
general pool...both of which will be used towards paying developers to
allocate time towards projects they normally would back burner.

    Sorry, I don't explain this very well...the thoughts are there,
the words aren't...so, an example.

    A 1 CD distribution of PostgreSQL is now $49.95CDN.  On the order
form, there is an "Allocate To" field that allows the person ordering the
CD to basically say "please allocate 50% of the cost of my order to
implementing X", where X can be "OUTER JOINS", as an example.  So,
~$24.50CDN will be allocated to that.  If 10 ppl do similar, then we have
~$245.00CDN allocated towards it.

    There will be quality control in place to prevent someone from
"barely implementing" the feature, in that any code submitted will be:

    a) a developer much "claim" the area of code before beginning work
    b) reviewed by "the Core" before being included
    c) the developer *must* provide debugging support for his/her code
       for *at least* 30 days following inclusion, before a cheque
       will be issued for the developer.

    This currently only covers the CD distributions.  There has been
some interest shown by a few companies willing to provide similar
sponsorship towards having features they require developed, that will be
looked into.

    There will be a web page setup that will table what is allocated
to where, so that both the "consumer" and the "developers" can see what
has been allocated where, and can work accordingly.

Marc G. Fournier
Systems Administrator @ hub.org
primary: scrappy@hub.org           secondary: scrappy@{freebsd|postgresql}.org