[Slightly OT] Ransomware as a Model for Rev Toolmaking?

[Dan Shafer]

A friend of mine pointed me to an intriguing business concept called  
"RansomWare" and as I thought about it, it seemed there might be some  
possible use for it in the Rev developer community. Under this model,  
a developer offers to produce a given product, sets a development  
price threshold for it, and asks people to commit what they would be  
willing to pay for such a product if he were to produce it. In one  
model, these people provide concrete evidence of their willingness to  
participate by actually paying the amount they commit to; in another  
model, they simply promise to do so when the product is finished and  
released.

Once the threshold is reached, the developer completes and releases  
the product free to the entire community. If the threshold isn't  
reached, meaning the community doesn't find the need for the tool  
compelling enough to fork over the threshold amount, the moneys that  
have been contributed, if any, are donated to a charity announced in  
advance.

References:

http://www.danielsolis.com/meatbot/ransom.html

http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/random-bits/2002-November/ 
000979.html

Just an intriguing thought for a lazy summer evening.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dan Shafer, Revolution Consultant and Author
http://www.shafermedia.com
Get my book, "Revolution: Software at the Speed of Thought"
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