Topic: Time to pitch in for SME 8.0....

[raem]

I would gladly pay it....  but I need reminding every year.

There's a possibility. What about creating a supporters mail list. Once a year or once a quarter (or however often deemed appropriate) a fund raising mail out could be sent to all list subscribers.

Of course registering on the list would be voluntary as is contributing funds or whatever else, but if people need reminding to donate regularly then surely that is not a hard thing to setup.

[jfarschman]

I work as a director of a non-profit organization and people are well intentioned, but they have to be reminded.  I have one other observation to make if you are going to build a reminder script.  

Keep a list with the $ amounts everyone last gave and solicit those same or greater $ amounts next year.  If you send people to screen with lesser donation options, people will tend to take those options.

Personally, I just donated $50.  Next year I would solicit my account specifically for $50, $100, $250 and $500. _NO_SMALLER_AMOUNTS_  Craft a message to people like me where I am led to believe that $50 is kind of the smallest amount I should give and if I give only $50 perhaps I should be embarrassed.  

These may, on the surface, seem like insipid ideas, but they work.  People give money according to their means and to alleviate guilt.

[mercyh]

Hi,

Just a bump to get this back on the first couple of pages of the forum 

[cactus]

Just a bump to get this back on the first couple of pages of the forum 

Maybe it deserves a sticky!

[byte]

Maybe it deserves a sticky!

Lets make it a sticky and see what progress is made...

[daniel]

My payment is made...  Thanks to all the developers for such a great community product.

[brianr]

ok, donated $100 (good value, given the pound to dollar ratio at the moment).

As a substantial part of my income comes (indirectly) from smeserver installs (I have 18 smeserver customers in the north west of England), I am happy to donate... but as someone pointed out earlier, I do need to be reminded sometimes!

[p-jones]

I am exceedingly happy to make a contribution here and now. I intend to deploy on a more commercial basis in the near future and will also explain to clients the pro and cons and point them to the direction of where they too can make a contribution. I do however refuse to collect that money on their behalf as it does make cloudy the isssue of whether the software itself is being sold for gain.

Having said that, I also have a perception that PayPal is not a safe place to send ones credit card details to. This perception is secondary to the issue of the secure/insecure site issue raised above. It is based on small snippets of rather non specific (= I cannot remember the details) info gleaned from trawling the net over the years.

Is this a valid perception ?

Whoever instigated this method probably knows the risks (or lack of) . What are those risks ? (if any) and are there any bullet proof alternative payments options for those of us outside of the USA.

[jfarschman]

p-jones,

  Paypal is one of those places that receives a lot of media coverage anytime any idiot makes a mistake and compromises their own account.

  The suffered from coverage about the phishing emails that got users to enter user names and passwords into a fake 'paypal' server.

  Frankly... I've had my AMEX card compromised twice in the past year and my PayPal compromised "0" times.

[Snoopyski]

People,

It's about time we ALL pitch in for the great efforts of the devs.... We can now enjoy SME Server 7.2! and again, a huge amount of effort has been put into this achievement. Many thanks for that!

How about SME Server 8.0? Do you really think it pops up automagically here on contribs.org ? WRONG! The devs need help, especially on donations

What if the 6.000+ registered users would donate $10,- each... and let's say for arguments sake because they love the distro. That would mean a usd$ 60.000 to cover some costs and makes up for the spare time not spent with family for those devs!

I would love to see all pitch in USD$ 10,- and for those of you using SME Server for your customers, why don't you charge your customers USD$ 100,- for each server install and USD$ 50 for each update??? After all, SME Server provides you a way of living, and consider doing the same thing back.

Wouldn't it be great if we can raise about a USD$ 100K within 3 months or so to SME Server Inc. Let's start the counter as of july 25th and check the balance on september 25th.

10 bucks is just a couple of beers, 100 bucks is just a few beers and a dinner. It's not about money, it simply takes money to keep on going to your all benefit!! Deal?

Go here: http://www.smeserver.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=34

Can anybody from the dev/doc team keep a wiki page up to date with the latest totals please? Even make this post sticky?

guest

Hello HF,

It's funny !!!

Thats the resolution I take for our compagny last month !!!
We are a IT Compagny base in Montréal (Québec) Canada and now each SME Server installed on a site for our custumer we charge 100 $ for the "SME Server 7.x or 8.x Software" to the client and send back to SME Server Inc. for donation...

Presently we have about ±10 Server Up and running in production since 3 years... So in next upgrade you will get some money !!!

So we work with you  (in money and support ) 

So far so good... Thanks for everybody supporting SME Server project...

Stéphane Gauvin
Service Informatique SG

[guest22]

Fantastic!

Very encouraging to see all of you expressing those positive 'waves' and especially the donation kinda 'wave'

Reading through the, very nice, reactions there seems to be the 'need' for a little friendly hint now and then to get the right attention at the right time. SO let me share some thoughts about timing then...

Timing is a subjective thing, it varies from individual to individual, pending on what business/personal or focus (or both) you may have. Would it be correct to identify the following high level 'groups' of SME users?:

1. Enthusiastic home users using SME Server for their home/SOHO needs
2. Companies that use SME Server (in whole of partially) for their SMB office(s)
3. IT Companies, deploying and maintaining SME Server for their clients
4. Others that use SME Server (or related) for commercial reasons in various ways

If so, would it fair to attach a donation SUGGESTION to each group to provide a guideline or food for thought?

Suggestions per group:
1. Annual donation $5 - $25
2. Per (re)install $100 plus annual maintenance contribution (updates) $25
3. Annual donation $100
4. Fair donation based on own judgment and above suggestions

Please don't 'shoot' me on the spot here, it's just a suggestion and for a good reason. As expressed in the start post, we really need to make sure we ensure the future of SME server. Virtually ALL related to the existence of SME Server is donated, ranging from time to hard dollars. Having said that (again) let's see what you get in return...

- VERY stable, easy and flexible Linux server distro (seen a better one yet? )
- A team of highly skilled and dedicated developers giving up family time for your pleasure
- Very accurate and frequent (security) updates
- Your 'hobby' home contribs.org including hardware servers, forums, website, wiki (all maintained)
- A huge amount of bandwidth to download/upload the many contribs and to read the tens of thousands posts
- 6000 + 'colleagues' that try to help you with your challenges
- Massive amounts of learning opportunities and study material
- Fun and new friends

Now where can you get that for 'free' ?

Again, these are all suggestions and food for thought. Please give it some consideration, e.g. what it takes to ensure a solid future for SME Server and what it will 'cost' you... (couple of drinks? 1 line item on an invoice? little extra internal expense budget?)

By the way, over 6000 contribs.org users and over 170.000 posts/replies! To how much would that total up if we would be charged 0.01 cent per pageview? Better opt for a fair donation.

Cheers,
guest

Please consider your reoccurring donation...

[brianr]

HF

I fit into the category 3 in your analysis, and consider $100 pa very reasonable (i just gave that amount as the result of your earlier post).

Although I have 18 companies signed up to smeserver, and they provide me with ongoing work, this OS is just too damn reliable!  Consequently they provide me with a living, but no more.  Luckily I have a few Windows based servers to look after as well.

I agree with the earlier poster that confusing the customers with fees for "free" (as in speech not as in beer) software is tricky, I make money on the time I put in, and also on the initial cost of the server I provide. Luckily people's cost expectations of a server is set very high due to the requirements if you go to the opposition.  However I usually sell on 3 or 4 boxes a year, so no fortune to be made there either.  I am just putting the "other" side of the story, sometimes I feel that some elements imagine that those of us installing  Open Source software to third parties are making lots of dosh... 'fraid not.

[guest22]

Brian,

Understood and fair enough. I do agree that it's all about IF the OSS model can be actively and clearly 'marketed' towards potential clients/users. Let's brainstorm here a bit;

That said, the SME Server software comes for 'free' as it is, and at a fixed point in time. Although it is 'damn' reliable, just like all other software, it needs maintenance and updates, whether it's free down loadable or not.
Pro-active monitoring and interpreting/analyze the reports, could one of of the hardware and software could be a service offering enclosed within a maintenance agreement/SLA. And that's with with the stock SME, let alone additional contribs.

Many times the 'general public' is focusing on the 'free' part, while the real question could be 'How do we make it work and maintain it for your specific needs'. meaning:

- Added (functional/business process) value of the proposed solution
- Fast Return on Investment
- Low Total Cost of Ownership

do NOT come just from buying hardware and pay someone to download and install a 'free' package. The (healthy) discussion with clients should focus on the above and not technical possibilities. We all know it simply works. And that's the tricky part, the enthusiasm 'we' have about SME Server and all services it provides by default tends to let us forget about the real added business value for a client. 'We' give away many hours in the form of 'pre-sales' where this could well be payed consultancy hours. The same could apply for our 'desire' to prove that it 'simply works' by spending free time on a installed SME Server and forget about ourselves.

A sample model for offering maintenance could be:

SAMPLE ONLY
Value every service with a 'score' (pending on your personal considerations). For example default server is 10 points, Active web server is 5 points, Active mailserver is 7 points etc. etc.

Total up the total 'value' of the installed server, let's say it totals up to 65 points in total. Then take the number of users, let's say 25. Now multiply server points times number of users (65 x 25) totaling to 1625.

So in this sample the maintenance/SLA annual fee would be $ 1.625,- Ofcourse you have to descide on what kind of support you're going to offer per service/functionality and the basic server. It seems to me there are many tools out there that, together with your own added value' would make this possible.
Also the maintenance fee would make an annual donation to SME Server possible

Anyway, it's all about your own added value, not about the 'free' down loadable software.

Cheers,
guest

[gerd]

I just released my guilty conscience - donation is made.
And thanks also to all those people working hard in the background to improve the performance of the SME server...

best regards

gerd

[Merv]

Donated!

I've been using this very, very reliable system for some years now - it's about time I at least donated!! Thanks everyone involved for one of the best/easiest internet servers around.

cheers, Merv