[maemo-developers] "Donate $x" button on Packages and/or Downloads

[From: Andrew Flegg]

BACKGROUND
~~~~~~~~~~
A number of articles recently have talked about Ovi Store as the only
"real" app store for Maemo; massively overlooking
http://maemo.org/downloads/

Similarly, as Ovi takes off, it is interesting to think about how
micro-payments for ones software could make one a bit of money (100
users at $1 each is a nice present); but whilst still having our
software as open source. There've been suggestions in the past of a
"Donate" button on each project's website, but I suggest we thrash out
a scheme - and then implement - a consistent micro-donation system for
maemo.org


REQUIREMENTS
~~~~~~~~~~~~
  * User can make quick donations to apps they like.
  * There is a suggested amount, set by the author, to indicate
    that even small donations are appreciated.
  * The button is in a consistent and logical location, with
    the easiest place to put it on maemo.org/downloads/ and
    probably also maemo.org/packages/.
  * Developers can receive donations direct from the users, without
    maemo.org taking a cut.


SPECIFICATION
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Two new debian/control fields would be introduced:

  XB-Maemo-Suggested-Donation - amount, in dollars (or euros) which
      would be shown on the button. If not present, no donations
      are expected.

  XB-Maemo-Donation-Recipient - email address to whom user will
      be donating.

Downloads and Packages would be updated[1] to show a button at the
bottom right of the package description:

   "Donate $2" (showing the amount from Maemo-Suggested-Donation)

...with a small "what's this?" link underneath linking to a help page
explaining that it's entirely voluntary, maemo.org takes no cut and is
a direct donation, using PayPal, between you and the maintainer.

Clicking the button will use the PayPal API[2] to redirect the user to
a "$PACKAGE donation" page with the amount prefilled and the recipient
fixed.


NEXT STEPS
~~~~~~~~~~
There are Brainstorm and Talk threads on this issue; so the
next-steps, as I see it are:

  * Link up discussions from elseweb.
  * Find a stakeholder (happy for it to be me)
  * Come to a consensus on the technical implementation, and get signed off
    by X-Fade.
  * Develop the changes and submit to maemo2midgard.
  * Test, deploy & use.

Perhaps this is an opportunity to use the project management approach
outlined by Stskeeps[3]?

Comments, as ever, very welcome.

Cheers,

Andrew


[1] https://garage.maemo.org/plugins/scmsvn/viewcvs.php/?root=maemo2midgard
[2] https://cms.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/?&cmd=_render-content&content_ID=developer/e_howto_html_donation_buttons
[3] http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=41092

-- 
Andrew Flegg -- mailto:andrew at bleb.org  |  http://www.bleb.org/