BACKGROUND
~~~~~~~~~~
A number of articles recently have talked about Ovi Store as the only
"real" app store for Maemo; massively overlooking
http://maemo.org/downloads/
Similarly, as Ovi takes off, it is interesting to think about how
micro-payments for ones software could make one a bit of money (100
users at $1 each is a nice present); but whilst still having our
software as open source. There've been suggestions in the past of a
"Donate" button on each project's website, but I suggest we thrash out
a scheme - and then implement - a consistent micro-donation system for
maemo.org
REQUIREMENTS
~~~~~~~~~~~~
* User can make quick donations to apps they like.
* There is a suggested amount, set by the author, to indicate
that even small donations are appreciated.
* The button is in a consistent and logical location, with
the easiest place to put it on maemo.org/downloads/ and
probably also maemo.org/packages/.
* Developers can receive donations direct from the users, without
maemo.org taking a cut.
SPECIFICATION
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Two new debian/control fields would be introduced:
XB-Maemo-Suggested-Donation - amount, in dollars (or euros) which
would be shown on the button. If not present, no donations
are expected.
XB-Maemo-Donation-Recipient - email address to whom user will
be donating.
Downloads and Packages would be updated[1] to show a button at the
bottom right of the package description:
"Donate $2" (showing the amount from Maemo-Suggested-Donation)
...with a small "what's this?" link underneath linking to a help page
explaining that it's entirely voluntary, maemo.org takes no cut and is
a direct donation, using PayPal, between you and the maintainer.
Clicking the button will use the PayPal API[2] to redirect the user to
a "$PACKAGE donation" page with the amount prefilled and the recipient
fixed.
NEXT STEPS
~~~~~~~~~~
There are Brainstorm and Talk threads on this issue; so the
next-steps, as I see it are:
* Link up discussions from elseweb.
* Find a stakeholder (happy for it to be me)
* Come to a consensus on the technical implementation, and get signed off
by X-Fade.
* Develop the changes and submit to maemo2midgard.
* Test, deploy & use.
Perhaps this is an opportunity to use the project management approach
outlined by Stskeeps[3]?
Comments, as ever, very welcome.
Cheers,
Andrew
[1] https://garage.maemo.org/plugins/scmsvn/viewcvs.php/?root=maemo2midgard
[2]
https://cms.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/?&cmd=_render-content&content_ID=developer/e_howto_html_donation_buttons
[3] http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=41092
--
Andrew Flegg -- mailto:[email protected] | http://www.bleb.org/
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