4 ms·

What business model is Signal based on?

• snorrah 11y ago
  Donations, it seems http://support.whispersystems.org/hc/en-us/articles/212940158-How-can-I-donate- http://support.whispersystems.org/hc/en-us/articles/21294015...
  • defenestration 11y ago
    They have an interesting way of donating: 'BitHub = Bitcoin + GitHub. An experiment in funding privacy OSS.' You donate bitcoins to a pool. Everyone can commit to their repository. Every merged pull request gets 2% of the pool. Currently you get 26.98 USD per merged pull request. Source: https://www.whispersystems.org/blog/bithub/ https://www.whispersystems.org/blog/bithub/
• defenestration 11y ago
  From their description in the iTunes store: 'Pay Nothing - Signal is supported by a team of dedicated developers, community donations, and grants. There are no advertisements, and it doesn't cost anything to use.'
  • staunch 11y ago
    So it's a project, not a business.
    • Sir_Substance 11y ago
      If that's how you see it, I'm very curious to know how you would define the linux kernel.
      • lmz 11y ago
        I was not aware that the Linux kernel required a server infrastructure to be running to work on my device.
        • 69_years_and 11y ago
          I am thinking there is likely a massive infrastructure behind Linux running on your device. And thanks to all those that support it.
        • Chris2048 11y ago
          Nitpick. It still requires development.
    • oliwarner 11y ago
      You say that as if is has less value for not being a business. When ideals are involved (strong encryption, privacy, ad-free), being run as a lean, open-source project is worth much more than being owned by a megacorp like Facebook.
      • staunch 11y ago
        > You say that as if is has less value for not being a business. No, I did not :-P