| Contributing to the Bacula Project |
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Although one talks about Free Software, in fact, Open Software such
as Bacula was not developed without some cost. The software
may be free for the user, but it wasn't free for the developer
or developers, either in terms of time or in terms of financial
cost.
For example, since beginning work on the Bacula project in
January 2000 until now (August 2006), I (Kern) have spent
approximately $8000 per year for computers, tape drives,
communications expenses, electricity, software licenses, and
other expenses. I am not complaining and am pleased to have
been able to afford these expenditures. In addition, have no
desire to have my past expenses reimbursed.
Bacula is now a fairly mature product, and to ensure its long
term survival, I believe it is time that Bacula begins to
stand on its own, both financially and for the development,
which is why we began accepting donations or project support
in November 2005.
There are ways you can contribute to the Bacula project, some of which are: ideas, user support, documentation review, translation, programming and contributing code, testing the new releases, hosting services, testing machines, donating needed equipment, and financial support. Previously all but the last one (financial support) were possible. It is now possible for you to contribute financial aid the Bacula project. All funds collected will be used to help further the Bacula project by covering out of pocket expenses incurred by the project (no salaries). Examples are, administrative fees, hardware, software licenses (yes Micro$oft), and possibly a portion of travel/conference expenses. Contributions may not be US tax deductible as Bacula is based in Switzerland. If you are a government or for-profit corporation and cannot make "donations", please consider paying a (non-obligatory) binary license fee for any Bacula built binaries that you download. By making these pre-built, pre-tested binaries available, we are providing users who download them with an extra service, which merits careful consideration for making a contribution or paying a "license fee". If you are a corporation and cannot make donations and don't want to pay a binary license fee, you can request an invoice for Bacula Project development. Please see below for how to do this. To make a contribution, please click on the donate button at the top of the screen, and your transaction will be secured and confirmed directly by PayPal. If you contribute, or have any questions, please send me an email directly: kern at sibbald dot com. If you need an invoice, I can send you one, but in order to limit my administrative work, I kindly request you to make a donation of at least $200 before requesting an invoice. To obtain one, simply email me the exact name to appear on the invoice as well as the mailing address, the amount you want to contribute, and the project you are supporting (or simply Bacula development). The Bacula web site has a "Donations Received" page where you can have your company name, your name, and the amount (or any combination of those) listed. You must explicitly request to be listed. Do so by sending an email to: kern at sibbald dot com after you have made the payment. Although there is one link to our ISP, who we thank for providing the hosting service, we do not provide any links to other sites other than on the Professional page.
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