How do they do it?

Baron Munchausen · #1 July 31st, 2002, 10:00 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by geoschmo:
In fact, if every website had people like The Admiral, Lazarus, Gimboid, Georgig, Capn, and everyone else that has helped over the months, from donating the hardware, to doing many hours of database programming and website programming for free, they could be free of ads and work off donations too. If you count all that we could never hope to break even. But they have all generously given, so all we have to do is get enough donations to almost break even on the monthly expenses, which so far we have just about been able to do, and I can keep it running and free of annoying popup ads or subscription fees.

Geoschmo

This is the secret of the success of Linux, too.

If you had thousands of volunteer programmers willing to spend all their spare time and quite a bit of their work time on your project, you too could have a 'free' operating system with all the functionality of high-end Unix for workstations, and keep it up to date with bug fixes and security fixes faster than a Fortune 500 corporation can for it's own product.

There's something to be said for 'hobby' activities and 'love of the game' (or OS, for that matter) over mercenary (*cough* capitalist *cough*) interests. The profit motive is not the perfect way to motivate people to do everything after all.

geoschmo · #2 July 31st, 2002, 10:07 PM

Hey Baron, that gives me an idea. We could sell PBW stock. It worked for Redhat.

Baron Munchausen · #3 July 31st, 2002, 10:35 PM

Sounds risky to me... what if someone misunderstands and wants their annual dividends?

Lawsuit time...

And even barring a complete screwup like that, I suspect that people holding even 'token' shares would start to want to have a say in how it was run and you might have conflicts on your hands.

Atrocities · #4 July 31st, 2002, 11:39 PM

You could also "host" couldn't you?

jimbob · #5 August 1st, 2002, 04:49 AM

Release non-voting 'token' shares only.

capnq · #6 August 1st, 2002, 09:03 PM

Quote:

what if someone misunderstands and wants their annual dividends

Whether a stock pays dividends is entirely up to the issuing company. Lots of companies never pay any dividends at all.

Growltigga · #7 August 2nd, 2002, 03:24 PM

Whether a stock pays dividends is entirely up to the issuing company. Lots of companies never pay any dividends at all.

Not strictly correct. Whether a share pays dividends depends on the rights attaching to that share.. as Capnq says, the majority of most shares will only attract a dividend to the extent the company declares it, and subject to local accounting conventions. Certain stock, such as preference or participating shares, will often have a mandatory dividend, for example, a dividend fixed at a flat 5% per annum or a percentage of profits post tax and debt service costs....

Geo, joking aside, you and the other fellahs do a sterling job and should be well proud of your achievements.. I dont really mind if you do have a stable of racy Italian sportsters.. (well, ok, I do)

[ August 02, 2002, 14:25: Message edited by: Growltigga ]