Matt Asay points out that it takes time and work to contribute to an open source software project. What suprised me was that he seems upset (or perhaps disappointed) that it's so hard for an outside person to contribute to an open source software project.

First off, it's not hard to contribute small things. Small things that can be easily verified are easy to contribute. It's harder to contribute large patches and new features. That's because the open source software is built on credibility and trust. A newbie has a trust savings account of zero. They build credibility and trust over time. When an outsider submits code, that code is not just inherently trusted. It needs to be examined, tested, and verified before it's accepted. That takes time – time from already busy committers. But when the code is accepted, that outsider has won a trust point. Over time, their contributions will just be trusted and accepted quickly, not ignored because people don't have time.

Luckily for most open source software projects and the community, trust can be partially transfered between projects. "Your reputation procedes you" and all that.

I've spent a lot of my work time making it easier for people to make contributions to open source software (via OpenLogic's Expert Community and my new job as Executive Director of the GNOME Foundation), and I believe you have to work within the model. If you want it to work faster, you have to hire the people that already have the trust (assuming they'll want to work for you), or pay people to spend the time to verify the patches you have (some what like OpenLogic's model) or you have to spend the time to develop that trust.