5 Things YOU Can Do to Help Open Source
I know a lot of people who use open source every day, from OpenOffice to the GIMP and Linux, open source has something for everyone. Recently I was asked how could someone give back to the developers of Free Software?
There are projects which need your help now!
The thing is that when you tell someone about participation in a certain open source project they immediately think of programming, and they say “Hey I’m no geek dude, I can’t do [insert programming language here], there’s no way I can contribute to this project , even though I’d like to.
And that’s where it pretty much ends in most cases.
But you know what? You can help your favourite project, even if you’re not tech-savvy! And here’s a list five ways to do it.
You can find instructions on how to help your favourite open source project on its respective website. Don’t worry, most projects make it easy for you to find the links.
Donations
An open source project always needs money, but since the software is mostly free of charge, many open source developers use donations as a means to finance web hosting, events etc. Even a few dollars can help. I have personally donated to a few projects, I gave a small amount to Wikipedia twice!
Did you know you can use these donations for tax-deduction, too?
Documentation
Good software should be well documented. You use it everyday, so why not help write a part of the users’ manual or something similar? It will help both developers and other users a LOT.
Translation
Nothing to add here really. We all know how much work needs to be put into translating software. A local group translated OpenOffice to Slovenian and it’s been a tough job. With your help, your favourite software may become available in your language!
Bug reporting
Unlike the Windows crash report window (according to a podcast I’ve listened to not long ago), there is actually someone on the other side who reads your bug report. The Free Software magazine has a great article on reporting bugs in Ubuntu Linux, for instance. As open source projects change a lot with every new version, your bug may get fixed very quickly.
Spreading open source
Promote GNU. Promote Linux. Just like open source made your life easier, spread the gift of Free Software to your colleagues, friends and relatives.
Good Luck!
I contribute by helping in the forums (Ubuntu mostly). I had a very hard time learning the user interface with Qcad (CAD software) so I wrote a 10 page click by click how-to. I’ve gotten a half dozen emails saying “Thank You” and asking for specific help where they got stuck. Search in the Ubuntu forums for QCAD and you’ll see the link.
Add “Help out in the forums” to your five. They were essential to me getting started. Had not someone in a forum told me that burning an iso is not the same as copying data I would have never gotten Linux to work.
I think reporting bugs is the big one and also letting developers know you appreciate their efforts. Alot of time developers hear neither. I’ll go into bug reports alot of times and just say thanks for programs that I really like.
There is one more thing that you can: write about opensource so that atleast people know about it. I write blog in Hindi and I write about open source in Hindi.
मैं ओपेन सोरà¥à¤¸ के बारे में लिखता हूं।
[...] -5-انشـر المصـادر المÙتوØـه + قـم بنشـر المصـادر المÙتوØـه ودعمهـا , وذلـك عن طريق استخـدام برمجيـات مجانيه , استخـدام انظمـه تشغيـل كـ Gnu/Linux , تشجيـع اصدقـائك علي استخـدامهـا , قـم بنسخـها وتوزيعهـا علي اصـدقائك , انشـــرهــا بكاÙÙ‡ الطرق !!! رابـط المقـاله الاصليـه وكـاتبهـا Greg [...]
Dunno if I agree about the point being made upon translation. English should be enough imho.