On Sat, 2020-09-26 at 19:47 +0000, Anthony Beaulé via gimp-developer- list wrote: > > Question 1: > What do I need to get started on making a project Open-Source? My > guess is just my source code, a list of all the dependencies my > program uses, and an account on a Git website (GitHub, or SourceForge > are the two I know). Yes, more or less, and make sure it builds, and is distributed with an open licence, and that it doesn't depend on anything proprietary. gitlab.com is another git site. > > Question 2: > Can I still control or direct the program after I've posted it on a > Git website? direct - yes. The more you try to exercise control, the less open it will be, by definition. > Question 3: > How do you make money off of Free software, and can you live off of > it? GIMP has from the start been a volunteer project, in people's spare time. You need a business model. Some examples: [1] use open source projects as a funnel to get other work, or to enhance reputation. This tends to have limited success except in some very niche areas - you have also to be solving some real needs with the software. [2] dual license, with a "pro" version that has more features. The free version has to be usable as-is. This is probably the most effective, but you need to take care to mantain people's trust - taking features out of the free version and making htem paid will risk a hostile fork, in which you lose control of the project. There are many other possible strategies of course. > Question 4: > How can you get your program recognised? It's one thing to code a > cool program, but if no one knows about it then it won't stand a > chance. I'm guessing the best thing is just advertise it on social > media like everything else nowadays. Pretty much, and word of mouth from satisified users. In the beginning it helps to have an SEO-friendly Web site. Best, Liam (slave ankh on IRC) -- Liam Quin, https://www.delightfulcomputing.com/ Available for XML/Document/Information Architecture/XSLT/ XSL/XQuery/Web/Text Processing/A11Y training, work & consulting. Barefoot Web-slave, antique illustrations: http://www.fromoldbooks.org _______________________________________________ gimp-developer-list mailing list List address: gimp-developer-list@xxxxxxxxx List membership: https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gimp-developer-list List archives: https://mail.gnome.org/archives/gimp-developer-list
