He said he was working on it open source, so I don't get the per hour wage debate. Open source means he works for free. I'm sure he has a regular job, so I'm sure he's not putting in a 40 hour week on this. That would raise his per hour rate substantially. If we were to hire a programmer they wouldn't be able to just blow off deadlines. They would have to disclose their hours. So basically people who donated hired a programmer to work on a project if/when he feels like it, and release it whenever he gets around to it. With no recourse if he doesn't even complete it. I think $50 an hour is a steal for that kind of gig.