[boost] [boost.money] was: status of Boost Unicode library/enhancements ?

From: Thorsten Ottosen (thorsten.ottosen_at_[hidden])
Date: 2006-03-31 07:02:41

Eric Niebler wrote:

> FWIW, I have the interest and the ability to write Boost.Unicode. What I 
> lack is time. Anybody with a vested interest in C++ and Unicode should 
> consider hiring Boost Consulting. *nudge, nudge* :-)

This a big problem we have to do something about somehow. There are a
lot of rather big libraries that takes so much time to develop, that
it is unrealistic that people can do them in their spare-time.
(unicode, xml, database seems to be the most needed right now)

OTOH, we have lot's of gifted people that could take on development
if given money.

For the benefit of the whole C++ community, we should try to organize
some kind of public money-gathering where companies can sign up
to support the development of these very important libraries.

I imagine that many companies would be willing to pay, say 100 USD,
to support eg. a unicode library. That is sufficiently low for me
to be able to persuade my boos, for example.

If we have some kind of estimate
of how expensive it would be to develop the library, it might turn out
that 100-200 willing companies would be enough fully fund the initial 
development.

The website could show then show a bar indicating how close to
funding we where.

Any thoughts?

-Thorsten