[Ardour-Users] Could this solve Ardour's financial

[Matt Henley]

I have been contributing monthly to Ardour since I saw Paul's call for
support last year.  I have never actually used Ardour for any serious
work.  I donate because I see it as well written, useful piece of
software that will make Linux a reasonable option for people to use
for serious audio and video work.  When Paul mentions an estimated
number of users as 10,000 - 20,000, I wonder how many people are
actually using Ardour as opposed to looking at it and deciding its too
difficult to use such as this guy...
http://advogato.org/person/pbor/diary.html?start=64 .

How many people get over the hurdle of getting jack (works fine for
me), plugins (libdsp doesnt compile for me and vsthost crashes since i
switched to amd64), RT Kernel compiled and a usable input device (I
made the mistake of getting a Tascam US-428 which has never worked for
me).

The point is that the entire state of the sound system in linux
reduces substantially the actual number of people who actually USE
Ardour  to a number a lot smaller than that.  Here are a few ideas
that I brainstormed:

1.  Create a "Recording with Ardour" series of videos showing what
Arour can do.  This could range from basic recording to more advanced
editing and mixing.  Showing setup of an optimum system and workflow
would go a long way to make a complex piece of software less scary.
This could be done by people that want to support Adour but can't or
don't code.
2.  Come up with some way to better represent what things people want
( here is how blender does it http://www.blenderstorm.org/qapoll/ideas
which is based on canonical's Brainstorm) .  bounties probably could
be added and the top 5 could be included on the main webpage.
3.  I think something like a ticker on the screen of the program as
someone mentioned would suck and be dstracting but something like a
splash screen with a Donate button would not bother me at all.
4.  I know that blender has released a number of books and dvd's with
the proceeds going towards their foundation.  Would this be possible
for Ardour?  Or would web based information be better?
5.  i know this could get flames.. but is there any way that Ardour
could retain its pro-tool level status while trying to also target a
larger less professional audience?  The standard templates went a long
way to let me use it..maybe just more education.

These are just ideas that I am throwing out.. I know the thing in
shortest supply is time.  I do know that blender managed to make it to
a critical mass and now has a vibrant (maybe fanatical) base of users
and programmers and is able to pay a few.

Matt