Ever downloaded a podcast, thought hey that's good, think I'll subscribe? Every couple of weeks or so a new podcast is released and you enjoy the listening. It might not even be a podcast, could be a good cause, a blog article or even an opensource application your using.
The above could be classed as products. Products take time, effort and dedication. Think of all the blogs out there running on wordpress. Out of all these blogs at what percent do you think they have donated back to wordpress? A guess would be that it's a very low percentage.
This post came after a friend who has a very successful podcast told me how, in the duration I was the 2nd person to donate. I was shocked, literally gob smacked hearing this. Again though thinking back I thought it was appalling. Sometime ago people were complaining about the number of voice overs being to high, think at the time it was about 7 in a 65 min mix, now these are short voice overs and in reality it helps stop those nasty rippers getting tunes and promotes him as a dj.
Next time you use an opensource application, download a series of podcasts, find an article that saved your a$$. Think, "how can I show my appreciation?". It might be to get involved in the project, help promote it or even send some hard earned cash. Imagine if such people didn't provide such products? How long would it take you to create such a product, or how much would it cost to get a professional to do it?
