First lets clear up the Benefactor discussion. The number of benefactors who actually are in the 800 dollar ballpark is very slim. Second, the money from the benefactor program (ALL of it and then more) go into DNN development of the core. There is no secret behind that and Shaun has stated this several times. Now, hopefully you guys understand that roughly 95% of us in the core and on the project teams receive absolutely no money for any of our DNN development. Honestly, without the money from the benefactor program I don't see what is in 3.3/4.1 having been possible by years end.
Now lets cover open source and DotNetNuke. It is generally true that daily builds are available for OS projects but not all of them. I personally prefer the daily build scenario but I also understand why it is not happening and by no means am I protesting the way things are now. The number one reason is support and I know you guys are saying that is not a valid reason but how many posts are unanswered in the General forums? This is only public releases too, so imagine if there were daily builds the turmoil that would be those forums. I am not picking on anyone at all, but if people really want to be part of this, you could start by answering posts in the General forums. Again, not directed at anyone, but look at the number of posts I have vs. the person closest to me. Then look at the remainder of the top 10 list and you will see all project leads and/or core team members. Sometimes it is difficult to stomach conversations like this one simply because it appears to be we all want but we don't want to give back. I am only bringing this up because I hope you guys will see things from our perspective or at least consider it.
Core Module Projects:
I can tell you from the experience of running two that I am just spent. I don't know how else to say it besides that and please consider that I work 50-60 hours a week in office, finished one book and writing another, answer a decent number of forum posts almost daily, moderate these forums and asp.net, manage two module projects and still work on core code as well. (Lets throw some testing in there too). Of course I am compensated at my day job but how many DNN hours do you think I put in unpaid? (Not really looking for an answer)
Straight honesty in all of this is support from my project teams is getting better but not great, although I blame myself for this mostly. Each time I put anything near a date on things and fall off I get flamed in the forums so what am I supposed to do? **** happens and it stops me from meeting self imposed deadlines and no matter what the day job comes first. I don't release my mods to Benefactors any sooner than others but I am not knocking anyone who does because those in that program have ironed out tons of bugs already that would have been released otherwise.
To sum it all up, I definately understand where most of you are coming from and I think most of you guys really just want an idea of what is going on but the reality of it is people are motivated when they can pay their bills and thats what me and everyone else involved with these projects are trying to do.