This short video shows how people can contribute to open source or free software projects, so that they can continue to be available to everyone.


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Video Transcription

Perhaps, instead of just using free and open source software, you are a little more civic minded and you like to contribute something back to the people that have made all this wonderful software available to you. As a programmer, well, the obvious thing you can do is write source code. Perhaps you found a bug in the program that you are using, well, fix it and send your patch, your fix back to the people that make the software available. However, that is not the only thing that needs to be done. One thing that a lot of free and open source software lacks and is desperately in need of is documentation. If you can write, if you can string a few words together, please consider donating your writing talents to your favorite open source project. Write documentation, translate strings, translate documentation from one language to another. If you knew a thing or two about marketing, something else you can do is help spread the word. Make software available to your friends. If they are looking for a new word processor, a new operating system that maybe is not so virus prone; whatever it is that they need, chances are, if you know anything about free and open source software and you know where to find what it is and you can give it to your friends. If you decide to like whatever free and open source software you are using long enough to put your money where your need is, you can always make a financial contribution. There are many commercial software providers that package up all this software and will make it available for you for a small fee on a disc or allow you to download it over the internet. If you are a company, you can always buy a commercial support. Perhaps you want to use some free and open source software in a product that you are creating, well, there are plenty of independent programmers and small companies that would love to have a few dollars of yours in order to provide excellent support for whatever you need. And last but not the least, you can donate to several charitable organizations that help to contribute and support free and open source software projects, programmers and the community as a whole. One particular example that I have in mind is the FSF, the Free Software Foundation. If you are feeling charitable and you have a few dollars burning a hole in your pocket, make a donation.