What NEED does this meet?

There are a few good open source programs that don’t seem to have active maintainers or bug-fixers any more. In another 20 years’ time, this problem will get worse, as authors who used to actively maintain their code pass on, get too busy, or pass away. In some cases the software is good enough and doesn’t need maintenance any more (eg TeX). In other cases new volunteers will take over (eg emacs, gcc). But what about the excellent projects that still need a little bit of work? Currently, even if volunteers provide precise bug fixes and enhancements, their contributions are liable to be lost. We need a system to ensure that orphaned projects are efficiently adopted.

What is the APPROACH?

I’m not sure how to scratch this itch, but as the leader of an open-source project, I reckon that some money is needed. I’d suggest creating an organization that would employ a small team of hackers expert in Open Source, and this organization would petition all linux vendors to give it a bit of money in return for which it would take on the maintenance of valuable open source packages that all would continue to distribute.

What are the BENEFITS to people?

This open source orphanage would rescue code that might die if neglected, thus enhancing linux and .

What is the COMPETITION?

Sourceforge provides much of what the community needs.

What BUDGETS & LOGISTICS are required?

Sun microsystems occasionally inject money into open source projects that they think deserve help. I reckon the main people to ask would be IBM, redhat, Shuttleworth foundation.