Re: What is the most useful potential feature which Emacs lacks?

[Arthur Miller]

Stefan Kangas <address@hidden> writes:

> ndame <address@hidden> writes:
>
>> If by chance you know somebody who is qualified and could be
>> interested in the job then please let him or her know about this
>> possibility. Provided you think a full time developer could help Emacs
>> development.  The core developers are in a better position to judge
>> this.
>
> Maybe this is starting in the wrong end.
>
> There is some serious work required to even get something like this
> going.  Perhaps one should look for a candidate to do that work first.
>
> Not that I have any clout to say much about anything, but here's what I
> think:
>
> Whoever is prepared to organize this will work on a volunteer basis.
> This would be a task of great responsibility, so it has to be a
> trustworthy person, possibly already on emacs-devel or prepared to
> establish and maintain that communication.
>
> Such a volunteer would start with writing up a serious proposal for how
> to organize it.  This should involve some specifics about financing (at
> least: how to collect donations), recruitment of candidates,
> advertising, deliverables, time-frame, etc.  Probably many other things.
>
> Next, you would need to be able to work patiently in discussion to
> convince emacs-devel, Eli, RMS and others that this is a good idea.
> Part of that work is convincing people that you are the candidate to see
> this through.  Maybe the FSF needs to be discussed with and convinced
> too.
>
> And, finally, the correct candidate for that work would be prepared to
> accept that, even having invested the above time, maybe it's not
> feasible to get all the moving parts working together to realize this.
>
> If someone is interested in doing that work, maybe this has a chance.
> I don't see that it's a hard task, just one that would take some time,
> dedication and organizing.
>
> Just my two cents.
>
> Best regards,
> Stefan Kangas
>
> PS. BTW, is there any reason Emacs is not already part of GSOC?

Could FSF control a crowd-sourcing fond that goes to development?

They could have something like a list of bugs/features, maybe have a
poll where public can vote for priority on that list, and announce a
prize money to those who turn in accepted patch. Does not even need to
be an Emacs specific fond, could be a list of bugs/features/improvements
in all GNU software. It could be open to anyone who is willing to send
in technically and legaly (FSF paperwork, licence and so on) acceptable
patch.