Written by Faboy the 16 Dec 12 at 18:51.

Plenty of users have problems with bugs, but aren't able to fix them on their own. Reasons for this could be the disability to program, a lack of time or the missing money to pay another person to fix the bug.

Canonical could offer a "bug fix team" for non-commercial users. The users donate money for fixing certain bugs in Ubuntu via Lauchpad. In return Canonical's "bug fix team" handles the bugs in the order of the donated money for each bug.
Ancillary effects: Ubuntu becomes more stable; non-programmers can contribute to the project; bugs, which are classified as insifignant by the developers, can be fixed;...


General donations could be given for bug #1 („Microsoft has a majority market share“) ;)

Plenty of users have problems with bugs, but aren't able to fix them on their own. Reasons for this could be the disability to program, a lack of time or the missing money to pay another person to fix the bug. Canonical could offer a "bug fix team" for non-commercial users. The users donate money for fixing certain bugs in Ubuntu via Lauchpad. In return Canonical's "bug fix team" handles the bugs in the order of the donated money for each bug. Ancillary effects: Ubuntu becomes more stable; non-programmers can contribute to the project; bugs, which are classified as insifignant by the developers, can be fixed;... <img src="http://i50.tinypic.com/2envvgo.jpg" width="800" height="410" /> General donations could be given for bug #1 („Microsoft has a majority market share“) ;)

Written by rbn the 23 Dec 12 at 20:18.

The developers of Ubuntu (programmers, translators, designers,…) could be supported by users which agree with Ubuntu, which use Ubuntu successfully, which want to help making Ubuntu better…
These users could use micropayment ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micropayment ) to support Ubuntu. There could be discreet suggestions during updatingor installing new software or a dialog, which opens when Ubuntu is used for severals (e.g. ~20) days. Every user only has to donate some cents, and developers would earn money by supporting Ubuntu, which would give them an other reason to improve their work, to improve Ubuntu.
Micropayment is easy and quick, it works, e.g. with a mobile phone.

The developers of Ubuntu (programmers, translators, designers,…) could be supported by users which agree with Ubuntu, which use Ubuntu successfully, which want to help making Ubuntu better… These users could use micropayment ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micropayment ) to support Ubuntu. There could be discreet suggestions during updatingor installing new software or a dialog, which opens when Ubuntu is used for severals (e.g. ~20) days. Every user only has to donate some cents, and developers would earn money by supporting Ubuntu, which would give them an other reason to improve their work, to improve Ubuntu. Micropayment is easy and quick, it works, e.g. with a mobile phone.

Written by psequeirag the 7 Jan 13 at 13:49.

As Solution #2 to Idea #21212 suggests, Canonical could provide a means for apps & packages to collect donations by including a "Donate" button in the Software Center GUI. Canonical could take a fee from those donations as an intermediary in a simmilar way as SourceForge does for donations to projects made through their site.

As Solution #2 to Idea #21212 suggests, Canonical could provide a means for apps & packages to collect donations by including a "Donate" button in the Software Center GUI. Canonical could take a fee from those donations as an intermediary in a simmilar way as SourceForge does for donations to projects made through their site.

Written by psequeirag the 7 Jan 13 at 13:59.

Create a franchise of Ubuntu stores that would sell Ubuntu certified PCs, laptops, tablets, printers, scanners, webcams, WiFi adapters, wireless mice, media boxes, phones... all kinds of accessories and complements to having an Ubuntu box.

Partner with manufacturers so they can get their certified hardware distributed & sold through the stores. I guess Dell and HP would be brands in there for sure, but please, try not to leave the good people from ZaReason, System76 and the like out of the deal.

Put an end to the perception that it is hard to get peripherals that work with Ubuntu Linux. If there were such a store in my area, I would certainly source all my gadgets from it. Heck!, I would even apply to open and operate it myself.

Create a franchise of Ubuntu stores that would sell Ubuntu certified PCs, laptops, tablets, printers, scanners, webcams, WiFi adapters, wireless mice, media boxes, phones... all kinds of accessories and complements to having an Ubuntu box. Partner with manufacturers so they can get their certified hardware distributed & sold through the stores. I guess Dell and HP would be brands in there for sure, but please, try not to leave the good people from ZaReason, System76 and the like out of the deal. Put an end to the perception that it is hard to get peripherals that work with Ubuntu Linux. If there were such a store in my area, I would certainly source all my gadgets from it. Heck!, I would even apply to open and operate it myself.

Written by psequeirag the 7 Jan 13 at 14:18.

A variation of Solution #1 that for me is more sensible than the "pay for fix" scheme (see my comment below), is to limit the number of votes each person has available on feature requests and bug reports/fixes.

Instead, if the user wants to vote on a particular idea or fix, he would purchase additional votes and spend them there to raise its priority or popularity.

A variation of Solution #1 that for me is more sensible than the "pay for fix" scheme (see my comment below), is to limit the number of votes each person has available on feature requests and bug reports/fixes. Instead, if the user wants to vote on a particular idea or fix, he would purchase additional votes and spend them there to raise its priority or popularity.

Written by psequeirag the 7 Jan 13 at 14:36.

What about a watered down support service that consists of purchasing the right to post questions or some limited forms of support requests on premium forums? The deal would be that there would be a better change to get good and timely answers to your pressing questions in those forums than in the community-supported ones.

The idea is to come up with some other form of support service that is cheaper and more affordable than the current commercial support offerings, something that can be offered at half or less of the standard professional desktop support.

This is delicate, though, because Community support is already well stablished and valuable, and these premium forums could disrupt and trash them. Perhaps, we could encourage community participation in the premium forums when contributors earn reputation, and give them somthing in exchange for increasing the quality of the support provided to users.

What about a watered down support service that consists of purchasing the right to post questions or some limited forms of support requests on premium forums? The deal would be that there would be a better change to get good and timely answers to your pressing questions in those forums than in the community-supported ones. The idea is to come up with some other form of support service that is cheaper and more affordable than the current commercial support offerings, something that can be offered at half or less of the standard professional desktop support. This is delicate, though, because Community support is already well stablished and valuable, and these premium forums could disrupt and trash them. Perhaps, we could encourage community participation in the premium forums when contributors earn reputation, and give them somthing in exchange for increasing the quality of the support provided to users.

Written by psequeirag the 7 Jan 13 at 14:51.

A variation of Solution #6: use the exiting and established forums, but allow to post priority questions that are intended to be addressed in a timely manner by qualified forum members.

So, users would purchase credits for being able to post priority questions in the forums and voting on the quality of the answers they get.

Allow only members with certain reputation treshold to address those questions. Give them "contributor" credits to acknowledge their premium contributions when acknowledged by the original poster, perhaps allowing to exchange them with small prizes like items from the Ubuntu Shop or an Amazon giftcard.

This would create incentives for providing good support from the community, but I would also expect Canonical to keep a portion of the proceedings.

A variation of Solution #6: use the exiting and established forums, but allow to post priority questions that are intended to be addressed in a timely manner by qualified forum members. So, users would purchase credits for being able to post priority questions in the forums and voting on the quality of the answers they get. Allow only members with certain reputation treshold to address those questions. Give them "contributor" credits to acknowledge their premium contributions when acknowledged by the original poster, perhaps allowing to exchange them with small prizes like items from the Ubuntu Shop or an Amazon giftcard. This would create incentives for providing good support from the community, but I would also expect Canonical to keep a portion of the proceedings.

Written by ki4jgt the 14 Jan 13 at 04:04.

Offer a bounty for bug fixes and improvements. Instead of setting up a team, allow users to invest (through donations) in project ideas for Ubuntu (whether bug fixes or improvements). Let users then compete for the best solution to the problem and give a percentage of the donations to the user who best solves the problem. This will keep the open source movement flowing and doesn't limit fixing a problem to just a panel of people.

Offer a bounty for bug fixes and improvements. Instead of setting up a team, allow users to invest (through donations) in project ideas for Ubuntu (whether bug fixes or improvements). Let users then compete for the best solution to the problem and give a percentage of the donations to the user who best solves the problem. This will keep the open source movement flowing and doesn't limit fixing a problem to just a panel of people.

Written by RockyC the 11 Mar 13 at 22:57.

Developers need to feed their families too - everyone understands that. So why doesn't Canonical simply offer a set of premium apps on it's own Software Center?

The pending release of Ubuntu for tablets and smart phones represents a HUGE opportunity to generate revenue. Ubuntu Tablet Edition is going to need some good, quality apps to help it launch. Instead of the usual nonsense of telling people to "wait until something appears in the Software Center" or "learn how to code and develop it yourself," why not simply create some great apps up front and SELL them for a reasonable price? I can get some AMAZING apps on my iPad or Android tablet for anywhere from $.99 to $4.99, and other AMAZING apps on my Mac for $4.99 to $9.99. These aren't bank-breaking prices, and it allows Canonical to continue it's mission. It also allows developers to do things like EAT and PAY RENT so they can go back to doing what they love.

Developers need to feed their families too - everyone understands that. So why doesn't Canonical simply offer a set of premium apps on it's own Software Center? The pending release of Ubuntu for tablets and smart phones represents a HUGE opportunity to generate revenue. Ubuntu Tablet Edition is going to need some good, quality apps to help it launch. Instead of the usual nonsense of telling people to "wait until something appears in the Software Center" or "learn how to code and develop it yourself," why not simply create some great apps up front and SELL them for a reasonable price? I can get some AMAZING apps on my iPad or Android tablet for anywhere from $.99 to $4.99, and other AMAZING apps on my Mac for $4.99 to $9.99. These aren't bank-breaking prices, and it allows Canonical to continue it's mission. It also allows developers to do things like EAT and PAY RENT so they can go back to doing what they love.