use Perl

• Individuals yes, Corporates no (Score:3, Insightful)

  by Matts (1087)

  I can agree with individuals thinking like that - often there are more significant things going on in the world than supporting a programming language. But corporates need to take a long hard look at how much they spend on Visual Studio  .NET and MSDN subscriptions, and realise just how much they get for free from perl.
  
  Yes, I speak of this as someone from a company who has not yet donated. I'm trying.
  • Re:Individuals yes, Corporates no (Score:2)

    by hfb (74) on 2002.07.03 16:34 (#10207) Homepage Journal

    You aren't getting it, so I'll be more blunt.

    I was a grant officer for a foundation for a number of years and one of the sometimes written rules of thumb was "If the organisation doesn't care enough to get the community involved, we can't be bothered." It's a big red flag. Why should any company give money to this foundation when so many seem to think themselves above doing so? They won't or maybe a few will, but they shouldn't until this community figures out that supporting the foundation from within is the one way to keep it going.

    Annual giving is the bread and butter of any philanthropic organisation such as this one. Grants are attractive but writing grant proposals takes time as well as getting into the various grant cycles means that it's going to be at least 6 months before cash starts raining from above. With Dan and Damian being shed to lighten the load and with no large influx of cash pending, it is likely that Larry won't be far behind. I'm irate that it has reached this point for a myriad of reasons but mostly because of this attitude that corporations owe us something. They don't. Philanthropy isn't extortion.

    Corporations should not be expected to give money if we cannot give first. It's like going on a date, paying for dinner and expecting the girl to put out since you fed her. It is warped thinking to expect something in return for an act you did presumably for your own pleasure and entertainment.

    Anyone can think of 100 reasons why not to part with $5 or $10 bucks but I'd like to think that most people would see this as an opportunity to invest in something greather than themselves to benefit everyone in the community if not today, tomorrow.

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    • Re:Individuals yes, Corporates no (Score:2)

      by Matts (1087)

      I didn't say I thought myself above giving (for whatever it's worth, I changed jobs and took a massive pay cut, and so live to the very edge of my salary - giving simply isn't on the schedule right now).
      
      I wouldn't even dream of arguing that people should think of not helping out with TPF. If they can, they should. But, I can see Simon's point, that we don't *need* Perl 6. Not like those starving in Africa *need* a meal. That's all. Make of it what you will.
      
      On the flip side, TPF does *need* us, so if you c
      • Re:Individuals yes, Corporates no (Score:2)

        by hfb (74)

        Simon's point is so obvious as to be irrelevant. The perl community is where you live and if it fails it will be a lesser place for the lack of it.