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by makuro 5702 days ago
$2,000 seems low, really. The people who would be intrigued in this situation are doing it for the challenge and the glory. Two thousand would be an OK cherry on top, but if you really want to sweeten the deal, I bet with a Kickstarter you could get ten times that amount.
4 comments
rapind 5702 days ago
IMO MS could offer $10,000 to any developer who delivers the exact same thing to them only giving MS complete ownerhip over the code. That would entice anyone working on it to go for the bigger bucks and give them legal recourse if the same code appeared as opensource.

Of course that could start a bidding war, and draw more attention, and no doubt encourage more hackers... so actually never mind, probably a really bad idea.

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burgerbrain 5702 days ago
The type of people who normally do this sort of stuff do it for free. The sort of people who do this kind of stuff because of the publicity being generated have the tendancy to not even do it for free, but to refuse any prize money offered to them. A large portion of bug bounties paid out to people who find bugs are gifted to the EFF for example.

A 10k bounty to not release this might stop a few people from doing so, but all it takes is for a single individual to say "fuck it, I have a steady job and a nice place to live, giving MS the finger is worth more than just a measily 10k to me", and it's game over. Once that single person releases their work microsoft has paid out (no doubt numerous times) 10k for absolutely nothing.

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jiaaro 5702 days ago
but with kickstarted we all have to give somebody the money BEFORE they figure it out.

With a bounty you don't hand it over until it works

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Raphael 5702 days ago
It could be a form of escrow. The person fundraising would have to be someone people trust.
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b3b0p 5702 days ago
Bragging rights.

Being able to put this down on your resume could possibly overshadow any possible lump sum that would be offered. Long term, this is possibly chump change if you factor in what it could do for you career wise long term.

Also, I wouldn't be doing this for the money and I doubt many would. You do it because you want to, it's fun, hacking on things like this is just plain enjoyable.

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v21 5701 days ago
It's from Adafruit: they aren't rich. And yeah: the people breaking it aren't doing it for the cash. But the cash is a nice trophy.
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