> This has been a very interesting thread that has gotten me thinking
> of what I should've been doing all along. I have an app on the
> market that is low volume sales but typically (fairly) high dollar
> sales. I'm going to change the line item that reads Firebird
> RDBMS N/C to Firebird RDBMS $100-$1000 depending upon the sale
> amount (user counts range from 2-75, 75 is a very decent dollar
> amount). Whenever I sell the product whatever amount the FB
> line item states will be forwarded on to the foundation.

A very good idea. Perhaps we should combine this with the point
Claudio made about using the installer for communication with the
users.

We always communicate that Firebird is "free, free, free, even for
commerical use". It is.

Perhaps we should change that message to "Firebird is free, even for
commercial use. Commercial users are encouraged to donate $50 per
user per year to the Firebird Foundation."

The FB2 core engine (126.000 lines of C++ times $80 per sloc) has
cost some $10 million to develop. Including drivers, docs, support
infrastructure, etc. perhaps double that: $20 million. That is $1
million per year to sustain FB as a current, competitive product. If
commercial users representing 20.000 seats pay up, we're there.

Paul