gcc: Funding

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1 Funding Free Software
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1 If you want to have more free software a few years from now, it makes
1 sense for you to help encourage people to contribute funds for its
1 development.  The most effective approach known is to encourage
1 commercial redistributors to donate.
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1  Users of free software systems can boost the pace of development by
1 encouraging for-a-fee distributors to donate part of their selling price
1 to free software developers--the Free Software Foundation, and others.
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1  The way to convince distributors to do this is to demand it and expect
1 it from them.  So when you compare distributors, judge them partly by
1 how much they give to free software development.  Show distributors they
1 must compete to be the one who gives the most.
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1  To make this approach work, you must insist on numbers that you can
1 compare, such as, "We will donate ten dollars to the Frobnitz project
1 for each disk sold."  Don't be satisfied with a vague promise, such as
1 "A portion of the profits are donated," since it doesn't give a basis
1 for comparison.
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1  Even a precise fraction "of the profits from this disk" is not very
1 meaningful, since creative accounting and unrelated business decisions
1 can greatly alter what fraction of the sales price counts as profit.  If
1 the price you pay is $50, ten percent of the profit is probably less
1 than a dollar; it might be a few cents, or nothing at all.
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1  Some redistributors do development work themselves.  This is useful
1 too; but to keep everyone honest, you need to inquire how much they do,
1 and what kind.  Some kinds of development make much more long-term
1 difference than others.  For example, maintaining a separate version of
1 a program contributes very little; maintaining the standard version of a
1 program for the whole community contributes much.  Easy new ports
1 contribute little, since someone else would surely do them; difficult
1 ports such as adding a new CPU to the GNU Compiler Collection contribute
1 more; major new features or packages contribute the most.
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1  By establishing the idea that supporting further development is "the
1 proper thing to do" when distributing free software for a fee, we can
1 assure a steady flow of resources into making more free software.
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1      Copyright (C) 1994 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1      Verbatim copying and redistribution of this section is permitted
1      without royalty; alteration is not permitted.
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