Community N9 Purchase Fund (N9's for devs)

[jalyst]

Just had this idea while I was in the shower....
Seem to do much of my brainstorming there, dunno why :D

I put it to the community that we ask the council to setup a N9 purchase fund for longstanding community devs/hackers.
Is there already a precedent for this, perhaps something similar was set-up in the past?

This donation pool would focus solely around the N9.
It's pointless donating towards N950's for devs because:
1) They're difficult to find, & over-priced.
2) Nokia provides no support whatsoever.
3) Outside of the community & official dev programs, they're illegal to own.
4) Why buy a device for devs, for which they may focus on features not available to N9 owners?

The reason I think we should go ahead with this ourselves...
Is because Nokia's only handed-out a very tiny amt of N9's to community devs so far.
They haven't even actually delivered most of those as far as I'm aware.
I believe qgil was going to try & set-up another community dev program once N9's become more wide-spread.
But as yet I've not heard any more about that, & I think it's best for the community to have one too anyway.
I believe similar programs work quite effectively at xdadevelopers etc.

So with that I'd love to hear some ideas on how best to structure this.
Should we take running polls & as there's enough money, allocate a N9's to devs most suited to the most popular features?

[jalyst]

So no one's interested in such an initiative/concept?

[mooglez]

maybe not this blindly, more information would be needed about the developers that this would target

1. a list of developers this would be targeted at
2. what they have done before
3. what they would be willing to do if they receive one of the community funded N9's

If this community donation route would be taken, then the community would also expect the developer to "keep his end of the bargain", and return something back to the community with programs that the community wants

[chrisp7]

http://mynokiablog.com/2011/10/26/n9-giveaway-for-devs-at-qt-developer-days-2011/

:)

[jalyst]

Thanks mooglez, some good thoughts...
Maybe I should approach someone from the maemo community council.

@chrisp7 that's great news!
I still think we should continue this though if we can.

[Creamy Goodness]

i asked Nokia if we can get n9's from their 'developer device program' (or why we can't) and they forwarded my request somewhere and never replied again...
I will ask them again I guess, it's been 2 days now.
Anyways, most developers that wanted to do some open source projects got n950s already, I think we need more time rather than more devices :(

[jalyst]

Keep plugging away man... don't give up...
There was N950's handed-out as part of Nokia's DDP (i.e. for commercial focused devs)
But Nokia never disclosed how many it handed out, or whether it still is etc.
250 were handed-out as part of the community device program....

[jalyst]

I'm waking away from TMO & MeeGo forum for while...
I've a bunch of way more important things I need to focus on.
If anyone else wants to run with this, it'd be truly awesome.

[Creamy Goodness]

I got a reply today, they said there is no equivalent program for the N9. I'm not sure what they mean by equivalent. I'm trying to get them to at least explain why my developer account has a section to purchase devices that is always empty. It even says something about a sale recently.

[jalyst]

There was supposed to be a commercial dev program, saw it outlined in their forum over there.
I can't remember where exactly now...
But maybe it was for only limited no's, and they've since closed it?
Dodgy bastard Elop, is dodgy bastard :(

[Creamy Goodness]

well, there's different types of developer accounts - individual, company, pro, and maybe others.
they seem to have some stupid policy like "need a company or pro account to purchase devices"
It looks like I have to register a new developer account and then apply for the company launchpad membership. I'm hoping they can just switch my account type instead. Apply = wait, life is short.

[jalyst]

Hmm, I wonder if they'll have the same "requirements" for WP devs.

Good luck with that, I'd be interested in the outcome...
Hopefully they can just do the switcheroo, instead of being pedantic/bureaucratic.

[gerbick]

So no one's interested in such an initiative/concept?

I think it's not that we're not interested; however the developers are well taken care of... I know that's a blanket statement and many were left out; however that's up to Nokia to fix that for the most part.

But if there are any developers that are out of the loop, they're - for the most part - not here but are at MeeGo.com where they have the attention of the Quim's and whatnot that will pull the strings to help that group of folks.

Whereas here, we're just **** out of luck. A lost group that Nokia or that group doesn't really seem to care about unless they release something and have something to sell to us... then we're important.

[jalyst]

I think he's targeting people that can do stuff "close to the metal", for things they probably should've taken care of.
If they're mostly based "here", I don't think he really cares about that...
If they approach him & "have the chops" to help in that area, I'm sure he'll do his best to get some.
Having said that, there's been lots of silence in getting those 2-3 N9's out, so far.

But if you're referring to a relaunched CDP...
Yeah he did mention trying to re-launch something like that (he made no guarantees).
Maybe someone should ping him about that again?

Assuming a new one can be started....
I dont think it matters if you're based here at TMO, not sure what you mean about that.
It's more a matter of assessing if what you want to contribute, is more needed than other proposals.
And whether there's proof that you can really do, what you claim you'll do etc.

[jalyst]

Gee, I wonder if Nokia might do this for maemo/meego :(
http://nokiagadgets.com/2011/10/27/nokia-giving-away-25-000-nokia-lumia-800-phones-for-developers/

I don't recall them ever doing anything quite as aggressive, even for Symbian.
N9 devs have had to jump through hoops just to buy N9's as part of the DDP* in the past few mths.
Now they're giving 800's away by the thousands... sigh.....

It's like Nokia's more keen for MS's development env/s to take-off than it's own.
How does this help the long-term viability of Qt if you do this Nokia?
Is MS ever going to agree to allow Qt to become WP's primary dev platform?

*I mean the commercial one direct from Nokia, not the community device program.
I believe some were given away & maybe still are, but AFAIK Nokia has still not disclosed no's.

[jalyst]

well, there's different types of developer accounts - individual, company, pro, and maybe others.
they seem to have some stupid policy like "need a company or pro account to purchase devices"
It looks like I have to register a new developer account and then apply for the company launchpad membership. I'm hoping they can just switch my account type instead. Apply = wait, life is short.

So how did it go?

[Creamy Goodness]

They only replied to me once or twice and wouldn't give me much info. I wanted to know if I signed up for a developer "company" account if I could get the N9 at a discount. They only made it clear that the "individual" account is useless.

[jalyst]

Bummer. Are you going to sign-up for a dev "company" acct?
Surely they'll let you cancel if you find there's no discount etc.