Re: The value chain of SpamAssassin

[Justin Mason <jm...@jmason.org>]

hi --

I've answered a couple, and cc'd the message to the SA users list for more
feedback from other developers and contributors -- it's a lot of questions! ;)

--j.

On Wed, Apr 8, 2009 at 18:56, DEMBELE Mariam <ma...@unifr.ch> wrote:
>
> Dear Mr Mason,
>
> I am doing my masters in "Information Management" at the University of
> Fribourg. I am doing a course called "Global Value Chain" given by Professor
> Pawel Dembinski, which analyzes the contribution of small and medium
> enterprises in creating value both nationally and globally.
>
> My working group is examining the value created by open source software
> programs. In order to do that, we need to choose a specific software program
> and use it as a use case. Your software program,SpamAssassin, retained our
> attention due to its well designed interface and the quality of its
> services.
>
> We visited your website in order to get some information, but we still have
> some questions about the model you applied. Your answers may be provided
> both in monetary value or percentages:
>
> - How do you assess the work force needed to produce SpamAssassin?

if you read the CREDITS file in the Spamassassin SVN repository that
will give an idea:
http://svn.apache.org/viewvc/spamassassin/trunk/CREDITS?view=markup

> - What expenses did you incur during the software production process?

For the most part, just our time ;)  although there may have been some travel
expenses that were borne by the individual contributors, too.

> - How do you describe the value created by your product?
> - How do you finance the development effort of this product?
> - Do you have intermediaries to distribute your product?
> - How do you benefit from this product, taking into consideration that it is
> free?
> - How frequently do you update your program?
> - What other parameters must be taken into account in the decomposition of
> the price of your software SpamAssassin?
>
> This information can help us understand the logic used in setting the
> pricing for software professionals and to show the completeness of the
> approach used. You would give us the opportunity to get a more practical
> insight of this course.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Mariam Dembélé.
>
>