Kicking Pinta in to High Gear
As people may or may not be aware, even though I work for Novell, Pinta is not sponsored by Novell. It is a project I do purely in my free time. Since it's getting kinda popular, I thought it'd be nice to earn some money with it so I can dedicate more time to it.
Unfortunately, society has decided that creative works (software, music, movies, tv) aren't worth paying money for. So far, I think the only successful business model for open source software is to have a browser and sell your homepage to Google or Yahoo. I thought about adding a browser to Pinta, but it was hard to justify as enhancing the user experience.
Advertising is the only other legitimate option, but I was reluctant to degrade the GUI by placing ads in it. However I've come up with a brilliant and creative idea that adds advertising in a fun way that I think users will enjoy.
I am still working out the deals with advertisers, but the plan is to add sponsored effects. Basically, we've come up with some effects that are helpful to users and tie in great with some great products.
As I said, these aren't final yet, but I wanted to give a preview of a couple I've been working on. From now on, Gaussian Blur will be known as the Bud Light Golden Wheat with Lime (tm) Drunken Blur:
I've replaced the boring old "Radius" option with a slider of how many beers you've had to determine how much blur is applied!
Another new effect is the VISINE "Get the Red Out!" (tm) Red Eye Reduction filter:
(Image courtesy of wikipedia.)
Red eye reduction is a very important effect for users, and the synergy with VISINE is a natural fit!
If everything goes according to plan, we'll ship Pinta 0.3 with several sponsored effects. The income from these opportunities will allow us to fund additional hacking on Pinta.
I think today, the first of April, is going to be the start of a wonderful new phase of development for Pinta!
Unfortunately, society has decided that creative works (software, music, movies, tv) aren't worth paying money for. So far, I think the only successful business model for open source software is to have a browser and sell your homepage to Google or Yahoo. I thought about adding a browser to Pinta, but it was hard to justify as enhancing the user experience.
Advertising is the only other legitimate option, but I was reluctant to degrade the GUI by placing ads in it. However I've come up with a brilliant and creative idea that adds advertising in a fun way that I think users will enjoy.
I am still working out the deals with advertisers, but the plan is to add sponsored effects. Basically, we've come up with some effects that are helpful to users and tie in great with some great products.
As I said, these aren't final yet, but I wanted to give a preview of a couple I've been working on. From now on, Gaussian Blur will be known as the Bud Light Golden Wheat with Lime (tm) Drunken Blur:
I've replaced the boring old "Radius" option with a slider of how many beers you've had to determine how much blur is applied!
Another new effect is the VISINE "Get the Red Out!" (tm) Red Eye Reduction filter:
(Image courtesy of wikipedia.)Red eye reduction is a very important effect for users, and the synergy with VISINE is a natural fit!
If everything goes according to plan, we'll ship Pinta 0.3 with several sponsored effects. The income from these opportunities will allow us to fund additional hacking on Pinta.
I think today, the first of April, is going to be the start of a wonderful new phase of development for Pinta!
Comments
However, I dread the day that all open source software will be like this.
'Send Mail' buttons get renamed to 'Tell Auntie All About!'
and 'kdirstat' gets renamed to 'BuyMoreSeagate'?
For starters, it will be very hard to find 'gaussian blur' in your (sponsored) universe... Is there a WebstersReferenceCard? (note: aka dictionary)
Have it sponsored by ComedyCentral(TM) and make it have an easter egg to operate normally all other days of the year?
Better than the original joke itself is that you didn't dare to leave this hint out.. :)
You should seriously consider selling the white space on blank canvases whenever a user create a new image. No point in letting that real estate go to waste...