Justin Wikinator wrote:
It occured to me that maybe some of you ARE getting paid to develop Inkscape. Is this the case ? How does that work ?
Hi Justin,
The number of developers that get paid to improve Inkscape is very minimal as far as I know. As you are aware, one way we've seen people get paid is via SoC.
Other than that you have people who work for an employer that needs X feature or functionality added to Inkscape. As such, those companies/organizations may be willing to keep their people on the clock to get that need met.
You may also take note of companies like Google who allow their developers to spend a certain percentage of their time on the clock working on projects of their own choosing (and as far as I know, we do not have anyone with that lucky gig).
For the sake of example, one way of /indirectly/ getting paid for development would be graphic design. More specific, if you do design work and bill by the project rather than by the hour, by adding features/fixes that make you more productive, you are then able to do more projects in less time (hence more income in the end).
Honestly though, most people don't get fiscally compensated by contributing to Inkscape, but that's not to say it isn't just as rewarding for them.
Personally, I use Inkscape both at home as an illustration/art tool and at work as a design tool for our marketing materials. I contribute my time because it makes my life so much easier. Plus, I believe that *INKSCAPE* is the best graphics tool available on Linux... Windows, OSX, and whatever else people get it to compile for. Heh, sorry 'bout the Xara jab but it sounded like an informal challenge to me. ;)
-Josh