[midPoint] MidPoint roadmap and development funding

[Radovan Semancik]

Hello,

I would like to clarify a couple of things about midPoint roadmap and 
funding of midPoint development.

The ideas and code that are now midPoint originated back in 2010-2011. 
Evolveum has been funding almost all of the development till 2014. That 
means literally tens of man-years of investment. Since then midPoint 
very successfully migrated to a sustainable funding model. MidPoint 
needs to pay for itself. We are re-investing most of our profits into 
midPoint development. That makes for approximately half of the midPoint 
development effort. Now, I would like to talk about the other half. The 
other half of midPoint development is funded by subscriptions and 
feature sponsoring.

Part of every midPoint subscription is used to fund the development. 
Therefore every subscriber gives a portion of his money to develop new 
features and improve midPoint. We think that it is fair that such 
subscriber also has a right to influence into which features or 
qualities are his money invested. Therefore we are always glad to hear 
preferences of midPoint subscribers. Bigger subscribers have also the 
right to use their subscription to endorse whole new features. This has 
already happened couple of times.

There is also possibility to sponsor a feature. That means to pay for 
feature development cost. We started to offer feature sponsoring few 
years ago and it has become a very popular method to get new features. 
Currently there is at least one sponsored feature in each midPoint release.

This model has evolved quite organically during last couple of years. We 
have decided that now it is time to make it explicit. Therefore I have 
updated the midPoint roadmap:

https://wiki.evolveum.com/display/midPoint/Roadmap

The roadmap is divided into two approximately equal parts:

One part of the roadmap is funded and guided by Evolveum. This is the 
part where we make sure that the product is continually evolved, that 
the features and qualities that we consider essential from strategic and 
architectural perspectives are properly addressed. This part is here to 
make sure that midPoint is stable, clean and well-focused to fulfill its 
long-term vision.

The other part of the roadmap is funded by midPoint subscribers and 
sponsors. This part is here to make sure that midPoint can satisfy real 
requirements of real users. This part is here to make midPoint 
development agile and flexible. Only features and qualities that are 
endorsed by midPoint subscribers or those that are explicitly sponsored 
can be placed into this part.

This is the way how midPoint development worked during last couple of 
years. And it worked well. Now we have decided to make it explicit. I 
hope that this will help in understanding the midPoint project funding 
and development processes.

N.B.: Of course, there are also features that are developed by the 
community and partners. Those contributions are always welcome and they 
also make midPoint a great project. As these contributions are not 
developed by our team we cannot commit to them and therefore these are 
currently not part of the roadmap. However, if any partner or 
contributor is willing to commit to deliver a particular feature we will 
gladly add that to the roadmap with a clear indication that it is a 
contributed feature.

-- 
Radovan Semancik
Software Architect
evolveum.com