Right. The maintenance of “yet another password” just to see something is a PITA.
For folk like me, who have imperfect memory, that involves adding credentials to a database that is credentialised.
All too complicated to just take a decko.
TT
I am in total agreement.
To that end, I am considering a small, efficient “administrative services division” that a few of the companies I am associated with can share.
After all, my life -long assumption is that if I can pay someone $1 less than what I can sell my time for, in order to achieve an objective, I am ahead of the game in financial terms. Even better, I am also happier because all I have to do is hire someone to do things I do not enjoy doing.
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Does AROS evoke something to you? At tge beginning, it was Amiga Replacement Project. They started free and asked for donations. They were having some, to cover some of their expenses and have an incentive. For thesee donation were community payments for achieving goals. people were giving money for such and such goals. Monuy was adding. When a goal got up to a certain point, one developper would volunteer to make it, and with the directory of the project, they agree to a date and review process. On completion (total or steps), he would get all/some of the money.
I think we could do a such setup for TW. I have some wishes I would give money to get them done. I see that not as much as being paying the sotware, but paying to get it done or get it done sooner than later.
The money is not billed to donators until the goal has been attributed to someone IIRC but we can and should make our own regulation.
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I think that is useful to see!
“Adobe Creative Cloud” took it to an almost absurd level.
It is a very complex system of subscription marketing (over licensing) .
But it functions for them, well …
… and more.
Just a comment
TT
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Incomprehension 
What is it?
TT
AROS is the “AROS Research Operating System”, formely Amiga Replacement OS. Look at https://aros.org
It’s an effort to rebuil Amiga OS as a free software. Man, I was an Amiga fan from 1988 to 1999/2000.
Quite a stunning amigaos over linux was accomplished by Bernd Schmitt with Amithlon, but IP and trademark killed that great piece of software. 
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Thanks for the clarification!
My take from it is that lots of great stuff died and more is likely dying as we chat.
The commercial side of the net is pretty horrible.
Just an over-opinionated take, TT
They are the quintessential example of proprietary madness, they exploit there position, and abuse the subscription model to extract dollars. As a result;
- A lot of people
- Hate them
- Hack them and copy prior versions
- make and use alternatives
- Demand their work “pay the subscription”
- Share a licence
Bad example if you ask me 
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This ad puts my mind at ease. I still remember TW’s commitment to the next 25 years. I thought at the time that there must be a proper commercialization path to make TW go better, faster and more sustainable in the future.
I am also willing to donate like other people, but donations are just to show respect and not enough to support expenses. In fact, there are too many ways to realize cash. All we have to do is to choose carefully, and support you!
Personally, aside from donating, I prefer the following methods:
- Community paid consultation: I am willing to pay some fees, and ask great characters to help me solve some practical problems, and these incomes are divided between developers and problem solvers. Community tokens can be issued when necessary.
- Advertise on the official website.
- Provide paid support or licensing to commercial users.
The level of expertise and skill that has been generated over several decades of TiddlyWiki development should be invaluable to many companies out there. I know that the skills senior senior developers can offer is unparalleled.
I realize that times can get difficult and that perhaps TiddlyWiki itself might wane in revenue opportunities but that doesn’t mean the work involved is any less valuable.
I personally would hope that if I had a project grow like TW did that I could sustain some work via donations and offset it with part time work in the same field/skill set. I know other “free” (as in “free speech”) project follow this model. Vim is a good example of a project that is community supported while the creator allows donations to an orphanage. While his day job covers the bills.
For this to work I can imagine that TiddlyWiki would need deputies to help work with community contributions and triage them for approval and merge.
Another model is a one time fee. I know a few tools I’ve paid a one time license for. My personal preference would be a donation. But what I would really like to see is a software industry where talented and skill developers don’t have to worry about finding work.
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Not sure which approach can make money. They might all be unfeasible. They might all be things everyone already knows. Let’s brainstorm.
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CMS (Content Management System) field. WordPress.com makes money by providing cloud services. Others make money by offering content publishing platforms like Twitter that enable mutual interaction.
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Note-taking software. Obsidian makes money by providing synchronization services.
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Tiddlywiki’s filters and wikitext syntax are programming languages.
3.1. Python secures funding through its foundation. Centralized package repositories like Python’s PyPI and Node.js’s npm rely on foundation support. Guido van Rossum himself earns income through Python-related engagements.
3.2. Red-lang attempts monetization by developing cryptocurrency wallets.
3.3. Perl generates revenue through book sales.
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Tiddlywiki functions as a frontend-backend development framework. The frontend-backend framework Next.js created the cloud development and deployment platform Vercel.
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Tiddlywiki, like Emacs, is a software platform offering extensive customization capabilities. Emacs is also a project under the foundation. Stallman himself initially earned income by selling software; his current revenue streams include speaking engagements, consulting, and book royalties. The FSF generates income through donations, manual sales, and software sales.
X. Tiddlywiki’s current revenue model involves developing enterprise applications on its platform. REBOL currently operates similarly and plans to offer cloud services in the future.
X1. Some software charges for specific features. Others provide paid features with guaranteed exclusivity periods. Tiddlywiki is also planning to release a paid iOS app.
Hello everyone.
First of all, I’d like to thank Jeremy for the wonderful program Tiddlywiki. I started with many others, and it’s the only one I’ve stuck with.
It’s true that it has a learning curve, but you can achieve a lot with it. In my case, I haven’t made much progress in my 7 years of use, for a variety of reasons. But even so, I learn something new every day or see some development that I can use for my own purposes.
Regarding funding, I think Jeremy’s position on the matter is correct. Regarding funding options, I opt for:
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It should be possible to enter niche businesses such as students or universities. Offering “all-in-one” solutions and technical support, obviously through some type of subscription.
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Donations, both one-time and ongoing, I think are something that shouldn’t be lacking and that many of us would use.
-
Some type of patronage to develop certain projects. In my case, I’ve often thought that I’d like to pay money and not have to spend so much time trying to develop things beyond my reach, even though I occasionally achieve something.
It’s true that I would have to decide which projects would be a priority and see how many people would be willing to fund them, but if someone told me that if I contributed 10 euros for a couple of months (to give an example amount and timeframe) I would have a task-based app like the one I need, I would be happy to do so.
Obviously, backers would have “facilities” to request minor adaptations to such apps, but after a short time, these would be open to everyone.
We have many projects that could be considered to provide Tiddlywiki with the necessary tools so that ordinary people could use it without such a learning curve.
These are just ideas; I hope they help.
Thanks, Jeremy, for everything, and I hope you get the funding you need.
And thanks to the forum for your kindness, involvement, and help with those of us with less knowledge.
Hugs.
Absolutely! Your dedication to TiddlyWiki is inspiring, and it’s a great example of how passionate communities can sustain and improve open-source projects. Balancing the love for a project with the practical need to earn a living is always a challenge. It makes total sense to leverage your expertise in commercial consultancy while still contributing to TiddlyWiki—this way, both the project and your career benefit.
For others looking to grow their skills and explore opportunities in tech while also supporting projects they care about, platforms like flexfuture.org can provide guidance, resources, and practical tools to help you navigate the digital and business landscapes effectively. It’s a great way to expand your capabilities while staying connected to the communities and projects that matter to you.
Jeremy,
I am looking forward to a book on my bookshelf: TiddlyWiki -The Swiss Army Knife of Digital Note-Taking -Getting Started; by Jeremy Ruston. Next to that would be: TiddlyWiki and Jeremy Ruston: The Story. Another book would be TiddlyWiki: Scripting For TW -A How To Guide. TiddlyWIki: It’s Community And Uses. Next to that would be: TiddlyWiki: Getting To Its Core; Joining The Developers. So many more. The TiddlyWiki Quick Reference Guide.
And videos and lectures. By you.
AlfieA
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Hi @AlfieA thank you for the vote of confidence, much appreciated. I am still concentrating on my hunt for new commercial clients, but I do recognise that there is the opportunity to monetise myself being me. Your message prompted me to try to assemble my thoughts.
One hurdle is that for the last 14 years I have tried to focus on making TiddlyWiki and supporting the community. At the start of TW5 I convinced myself that building a first class piece of software with the support of an enthusiastic community would be sufficient, and would naturally lead to the income I needed to survive. I was lucky enough to get some commercial contracts in the early days, and so I was encouraged to think that I could eventually build a software company around TiddlyWiki.
To monetise myself I would have to reach a larger audience than the TiddlyWiki community, but it could be enough to get me started. YouTube, Substack and Spotify podcasts all offer tools to build an audience and take payments. There is a lot of pontificating and haranguing on these platforms which wouldn’t come naturally.
I always used to enjoy doing the old TiddlyWiki Hangouts. I didn’t have to do a huge amount of preparation, just turn up and have a conversation with the guests. It’s a little hard to see how the hangout format could be of wider interest, but at least it’s something I know how to do.
There’s more thinking and discussing to do, but thank you to everyone for your support. I will shortly make a post about one simple way that people in the community might be able to support me.
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Hi @jeremyruston I remember you had the plan to launch an app. I guess this could do both increase visibility of TW and generate some revenue.
And I think the Idea to have a micropayment-link somewhere is not so bad. For those of us who do not own big enterprises, it is a much smaller hurdle to show the gratefulness we can afford than to convince the institutions we work for to invest.
Right!
@CodaCoder, I believe, thought TW might, appropriately, have been better called “The Ruston”.
TBH, a lot of pioneers have disappeared because monetising open-source, though it can be a success, is far harder than the less generous approaches.
TW remains innovative & highly relevant.
FWIW I am an avid liker of the (Windows) software of Jan Goyvaerts who is barely known—but who makes a decent living.
I use everyday 3 of his programs.
Like you he’s very independent.
But his is closed software (though affordable) that is innovative (e.g. PowerGrep).
My Point: IF TW had been closed source I would have bought it because of what it does.
But I guess there is no going back?
Good.
TT
Actually I know a physio therapist who kicked off his business with a book to a targeted audience for “Seniors”. In his case he actualy gave away some printed copies, but sold most of them. The key though was it gave him a reputation for “exercise physiology for seniors”, after all “he wrote the book on it” . The value of a book goes beyond those who read it, who would have thought?
Although not nessasarily for professional reasons, I am looking at writting a book myself, based on a long career of personal productivity and dealing with complex problems, environments and life.
TiddlyWiki may appear in it, in a small way, and it certianly will power my book writting. I already have a custom edition, which I may open source, after it is tested writting a book.
- I will publish it early, if I find a community of writters to use tiddlywiki to that end.
The key here being leveraging my specific skills and expierence, but targeting those issues that are most current.
I have no doubt you @jeremyruston could find a target business audience, which will be well served by your skills and expierence. But start with things currently needed.
- If you end up enjoying the writting you could then write an interesting technical history of IT and software. Which will have a smaller but enthusiastic audience.
- Another area of your demonstrated skills is building and maintaining an open source software community. I am sure a lot of us can contribute ideas and content.
Not quite. The question was asked, whether there was a coding pattern (or perhaps wiki-ism) that might be called “a ruston”. And that got me thinking… and realized the “revealed” subtitle using r-u-s-t-o-n as an acronym:
TiddlyWiki
Really
Useful
Software
To
Organise
Notes
It really is quite extraordinary how well if fits and that it’s always been just “sitting there”. Truly, I feel I discovered it more than invented it.
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