Paul,

Sounds very, very cool.

In light of the recent influx of user contributed things I would like to
share a little of what I hope to do so that the Trustware concept can
actually be unfolded more. As I envision Trustware, it goes way beyond what
is evident right now. Eventually it will provide a means of sharing the
revenue stream with those who contribute to the product. My share will
decrease as user contributions increase. There are three major ways that
contributions can be made to a trustware product that will be considered:
Marketing, support, documentation and development.

Here's the breakdown in percentages that I think are appropriate:

Marketing: 30%
Support: 25%
Documentation: 20%
Development: 15%
Admin: 10%

So, as trustware revenue comes in, rather than just throwing a lump sum to
CPS, you will have some say as to who receives what. There will be a system
in place that allows those who have contributed in these areas to be
selected. So, if I want to continue receiving a good share of the support
revenue I will need to be active in the support forums to receive people's
votes. If I want a piece of the development stream then I will need to have
some nifty contributions listed so that those who will benefit from them can
select my efforts. Like the pipeline component, the virtual tree view
component, etc.

This is just a little glimpse of what I have in mind. This isn't just going
to be for IBO either. I plan to setup a system that will host numerous
projects as well as IBO. I suppose it will be somewhat like a S o u r c e F
o r g e system. Only it will reflect they way I like to do business and
encompass the whole range of what it takes to complete fully usable, user
friendly, commercially polished software and financially reward those who do
the work.

If we do this right, neither commercial (marketing heavy operations) or open
source (development heavy operations) will be able to compete that well
against such a balanced system. The trick will be to keep it all organized
and focused. It will be a virtual enterprise. Perhaps there will eventually
be a distribution of LINUX, InterBase and whatever else is required under
this system. I envision company's, not just individuals becoming players
within this infrastructure.

IBO is just the seed...

FWIW,
Jason Wharton
CPS - Mesa AZ
http://www.ibobjects.com