[ide-dev] How to encourage contributions and what kind of contributions?

[Michael Scharf <eclipse@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

I am giving an in-house RCP training next week, for a
company that builds some RCP based products.

The audience will be developers. However, what would be the
best message to encourage the company to contribute?

And what forms of contributions are valuable? The classical
answer seems to be "write bug reports and send patches,
spread the word, get engaged":
   https://www.eclipse.org/contribute/

But most of this is in some way is a "personal" commitments. Even
becoming a member company, is kind of personal. None of this can
convince a "German Accountant" to let money flow.... I always have to
think about the story behind the http://heartbleed.com bug....

But I also wonder how else can a company make sure
RCP and eclipse is maintained and developed in the future?
- paying for ... (what?)?
- hiring contractors (like Lars or Tom (or me ;-))) to fix bugs?
- participating in the long term support project?
- ... what else

So, what would be YOUR message if you are asked to motivate
a company to contribute to eclipse? What other ways than
"personal commitment" can help eclipse?


Michael