[milod]

Is anyone else mildly depressed by the inequality between money raised and reality here?

It's great that these guys are raising money, I'm all for it. They should take what they can get. But, what about all the brilliant open source projects out there, that people are actually enjoying and using today, not sponsored by large organizations that accept donations from the community. I'm willing to bet that _none_ of them have raised even close to this much money. It saddens me that society is more willing to financially support a statement than something actually useful and real.

Perhaps this turn of events was destined to happen eventually and these lucky guys hit the media jackpot. I still can't be happy about it.

[synnik]

Is it great that these guys are raising money?

I don't know them, but if the issue is a major fundraising effort to replace Facebook, I would think that selecting teams to implement the new system would need some serious due diligence.

Should someone raise money? Absolutely. Is it these guys? I honestly do not know. More information is needed...

[jeebusroxors]

The fact that more information is needed makes me lean towards the "no" side of the house.

[pstinnett]

Is that necessarily the case though? I'm hoping to see a lot more open source projects popping up on Kickstarter. While I'm not donating to Diaspora* (yet) I think I would be happy to donate to plenty of open source projects and Kickstarter seems to be a great platform for collecting those donations.

[dustrider]

kickstarter isn't about donations, it's supposed to be about microfinancing startups. They are investments.

I'm with GP, these guys wouldn't get an inch with any angel or VC's so why are the general populace giving them their money? just because it's $20 it doesn't mean you shouldn't consider it in the same way as a $20000 investment. A punt is a punt, but you don't put money on a statement, that's what lobby groups are for.

[anigbrowl]

Ah, they are explicitly not investments, so as not to fall afoul of securities laws. Kickstart donors get exactly zero property interest in any IP - check the FAQ. It's a sales outlet for custom products offered on a promissory basis.

[roc]

Strikes me as not too far off the inequality between "good products" and "successful products" in general. Books, movies, commodities, software -- why should fund-raising be any different?

It's a shame, but I'm pretty numb to the phenomenon at this point.

[orblivion]

This is about demand. As happy as certain open source projects are making people, people are willing to pay for the hope of seeing an alternative to Facebook.