Doug Chamberlin wrote

>Here's an idea: Every business that places an FB copy into a client
>location buys a copy of the Firebird book from the Foundation and leaves it

>with the client. Tell them its technical documentation that you want them
>to have in case they ever need it. If you deliver strictly embedded, hidden

>DB then buy the book anyway and donate it to your local library and then
>factor in the cost to the sale.

While I'm sure Helen wouldn't mind if her book sold thousands of additional
copies, the couple dollars the foundation would earn (after their handling
costs) wouldn't add up to much. How about this alternative: if every
business that places an FB copy into a client location would sign up to be a
FB Foundation sponsor, and contribute at least $10 per copy, in one big
check at the end of each year, then the FB team could grow faster, the FB2 &
Vulcan merge could happen more quickly, and EVERYBODY using it would benefit
from better versions, with less time between.

It's easy to do- at the end of each year, when you're looking at your
financial statements, counting the number of installations you've done, and
thinking, "wow, I'm sure glad I'm using Firebird- Interbase 5.6 really
crashed a lot and took a ton of effort to support!" (or whatever YOUR story
is), decide how much that was worth to you per site. Then take that number
and multiply by your number of installations.

Now, go visit
http://www.firebirdsql.org/index.php?op=ffoundation&id=contributions#donatio
n, select a credit card, enter that amount, fill in the rest of the fields,
and you're done! Now you can go home, feel good about yourself, and sleep
well knowing that the database your business depends on won't die because of
YOUR neglect.

BTW- the end of the year may have passed already, but it's not too late.
Christmas joy lasts all year!