Raising funds for developing Varnish

[Joshua Levine]

Very much respected, and understood.

Thank you for a great tool.

Joshua


On 8/31/09 2:47 PM, "Poul-Henning Kamp" <phk at phk.freebsd.dk> wrote:

> 
> Software development may be open, and the result shared with an
> Open Source Software licence, but the actual hours of programming
> are not gratis.
> 
> Just like everybody else, I need money for mortgage, kids and food,
> money I make, by doing things with computers, for people who are
> willing to pay for that.
> 
> One of the things I do for money, is develop Varnish.
> 
> From the very beginning of the project the Norwegian company
> Redpill-Linpro, has channeled money from sponsors and customers and
> paid for my time.
> 
> Redpill-Linpro also offer commercial services based on Varnish,
> consultancy, hosting, support and other services.
> 
> That way, the companies which have a contract with Redpill-Linpro,
> help pay for the future development of Varnish.
> 
> For all practical purposes this has worked great until now.
> 
> Unfortunately, some obscure tax rules makes it pretty nasty for me
> and my accountant: if more than 30% of my work is for the same
> customer in a Nordic country, I may be deemed an employee of said
> company with possible double taxation, and other unpleasant paper
> work as a result.
> 
> This effectively puts a cap on the amount of work I can do on
> Redpill-Linpro and consequently: on Varnish.
> 
> It is my impression, that a fair number of Varnish users are not
> likely to need the professional services of Redpill-Linpro, and
> thus unlikely to help pay for future Varnish development via that
> route.
> 
> This is where the "Varnish Moral License" comes into the picture:
> 
> The Varnish Moral License, is a voluntary license payment, directly
> to the author of Varnish, which helps pay for the development of
> Varnish.
> 
> Buying a Varnish Moral License is 100% voluntary, if you do not
> make money from your website, there is no reason why you should pay
> for a license to use Varnish on it.
> 
> If however, Varnish helps your website generate a profit, you should
> consider getting a Varnish Moral Licence.
> 
> In all cases, it is entirely up to you (and your morals) if you
> should get a license or not.
> 
> That is why I called it a "Moral License".
> 
> Please buy one.
> 
> More details and FAQ at: http://phk.freebsd.dk/VML/
> 
> Poul-Henning Kamp
> 
>