[Typo3] typo3.org

[Rob De Vries]

> Sponsoring might be interesting, I'll get in touch later on...

Just an idea.

If all proffesional users of Typo3 (company's who make website for other 
company's using Typo3) pay's an annual fee of 100€ and get an official 
invoice for this, then this money can be used for the Typo3.org hosting.
Let's asume there are 500 prof. company's who uses typo3 This makes 
50.000€/year. I guess you can do alot with 50.000/year for hosting.

Why I propose this? When you work with typo3 on a prof. base, you need 
to be able to gain access to the typo3 information(docs, newslist, 
extencions etc ..) at any time of the day.

In return you can make a list with all 'profesional' users of typo3 
(those who have paid the fee, regarding if they have ever made 1 site 
with typo, or published an ext or contributed to the community) and some 
additional features, like a 'job' section where pro-users can place an 
ad when they look for a freelancer for a certain task (like sponsored 
jobs for making a specific extension). This could also boost the 
building and/or finishing of some important extensions (like the 
CSS-styled-content & css_styled_image_text)

Also, this will 'force' professional users to pay a fee.
an ex.: I always ask a client to pay a fee to Kasper (or typo3). the 
amount is free to choose but I can't obligate them to do so. I have to 
be honnest, almost non of my client do so, even if I ask them several 
times and tell them this is a fair thing to so so.

I don't think it is a 'bad' thing to ask for money. Especialy when you 
give something in return. And why not make a difference between Pro and 
non-pro typo3 users? Both sides can only gain with this. Pro-users have 
access to some special sections on the typo3 site, and non-pro users can 
enjoy the benefits of the pro-community.

Alot of us are able to make a living because of typo3 and typo3 is 
becoming big-bussines. And like all busnisses you need to invest wisely 
to asure the future of it.

Just my idea on this cloudy afternoon.

Rob