Rails - Apr 2006 - Sponsoring the Sponsors of the Summer of Code.

I know that the folks at Ruby Central (David Black, Chad Fowler, Rich
Kilmer, et al) had a big impact on Ruby being added to Google''s
''Summer of Code''.  They tried last year, but they made it
happen this
year.

Based on that, I''ve made a donation to Ruby Central [1] to support the
work that they do (as I did last year).  I''d love to see my (almost a)
tradition spread.  Do it, don''t do it.  Announce that you did, or
didn''t do it, or keep it to yourself.  Either way, at least think
about making a donation to support Ruby Central.

It seems to be win/win.  You support Ruby Central, they get Google to
support ruby coders with a couple grand (and Ruby Central gets $500
per project, so your seed money can grow).  The Ruby community gains
new tools, and Ruby coders get paid to make them.

If we ''start a movement'' (ie: Alice''s Restaurant),
well, maybe we can
even revive the ''Codefest Grants'' [2].

It''s tough to just pass on a deal like that (do I offer the free
coffee mug now, or do I wait until our guest star appears?)  Operators
are standing by, so click that link now (I blame PBS)...

[1] http://www.rubycentral.org/pledge/
[2] http://www.ruby-talk.org/cgi-bin/scat.rb/ruby/ruby-talk/133197

--
Bill Guindon (aka aGorilla)
The best answer to most questions is "it depends".

Hi Bill,
> Based on that, I''ve made a donation to Ruby Central [1] to support
the
> work that they do (as I did last year).  I''d love to see my
(almost a)
> tradition spread.  Do it, don''t do it.  Announce that you did, or
> didn''t do it, or keep it to yourself.  Either way, at least think
> about making a donation to support Ruby Central.
I''m definitely in favor of the tradition of supporting Ruby Central. 
This is the 3rd year in a row that I''ve been donating either a fixed
amount or 1% of my gross income from Ruby programming, whichever is
larger.   I like to imagine it as a feedback loop: the more Ruby
Central does to promote Ruby, the more Ruby contracting opportunities
I get, so the more I donate, so the more they can afford to promote
Ruby, etc.  (Of course, I don''t seriously mean to imply that my modest
contributions play any more than a very tiny part in all the great
things the Ruby Central folks are doing.)

Wayne

---
Wayne Vucenic
No Bugs Software
Ruby and C# Agile Contract Programming in Silicon Valley, Domain Driven Designs