Who do we pay, and how much?

[Oren]

Now the dust has settled and I've made a selection of open-source software that works together effectively in a digital audio workstation, how do we go about supporting the developers who create and maintain these excellent tools?

A disturbing feature of the open-source community is the inclination to keep on hand a vast array of software tools, seldom learn to use any of them to their fullest potential, and avoid the topic of reimbursing the authors of all this software for their efforts.

I owe a debt of gratitude (and some cold hard cash ) to the developers of Audacity. Although it looks like I may not need it in my Ubuntu Studio DAW, it has been a principal tool in crafting my sound over the last three years. In Windows, it (along with the LADSPA plugins) is my audio mastering application.
It is time to start giving back to these committed individuals so they can continue their excellent work - what would be an appropriate amount in this case?

[kara]

If, when, how much and to who you donate is a completly personnal matter I think. It depends on your philosphy and how much you can afford.
But if you want to have an idea of donation schemes, one of the most advanced is Ardour.
The developper put a monthy donation scheme in place to pay him and keep the developpement going. Have a look at : http://ardour.org/
As you can see at the right side of the page, there are two possibilities, monthly subscription or simple donations.

k

[folderol]

As Kara says, this has to be a personal decision.

I simply see what I can afford from time to time, and proportion it across the software I find most useful.

[Oren]

It looks like the Ardour project people think that $120.00 per year would be appropriate. It is the most useful of the six major applications that I see as components of my Linux DAW. According to the amount of use I predict each application will get, $400.00 per year, distributed among the various projects, would be about right.

Very reasonable, considering the kind of performance and support you get from a Linux developer.