Hi All, I had a talk at the conference about the foundation. I have known well that Alan is working on our accounts. So even if we all want to have the foundation, in my opinion what Pascal is trying to put forth that "Are we capable enough to run a foundation?". A foundation is not really a simple matter and even if the ideas seem very wonderful at first, it comes around with a lot of responsibilities. So, the first step would be to see how we start our own base and look at how the foundation is going. So the whole scenario involves a lot of factors? First, Do we really want a foundation? Second, Are we capable enough to get the foundation working? Both of the them need to be tried out. Without actually trying them, we really cannot say anything. Like Alan has been working on the foundation that is a step forward to actually to prove that we are moving in a direction towards building a foundation for the foundation. But that is not the only thing. If actually at all we want a foundation, then we have to see to a lot of things. For example ( and in no particular order ) 0. Convincing our current sponsors SUSE, B1 et all that we are capable enough to run a foundation. 1. Managing our finances. 2. Getting newer and more sponsors during the conference. 3. Getting our services to be hosted on other sponsors infrastructure too. 4. Managing our trademarks effectively. 5. Other than our sponsors, if there are ways to have an income for our own infrastructure. We and the current board has currently taken a few steps and it will be the responsibility of the new board to find answers for these questions 0. Do we need a foundation? ( I for myself would like that very much but at the end we all need to decide) 1. Are we really ready for the foundation ? ( If we want a foundation, then it becomes our responsibility to prove that we are capable enough) 2. If we prove that, then yes we move ahead with the foundation but if do not then it may be worse than what we can imagine. So Foundation is certainly not a thing we can hurry upon but rather take cautious steps to ensure that an independent foundation which we build has a strong base and ensure that it will flourish. A very challenging task but something that we and the new board will have to prove. In my honest opinion, building a strong base for the foundation is more important than the foundation itself in the current scenario. So let us all take a deep breath and think minutely about each and everything and not hurry up. Regarding sponsors, Right now since all or most of the money is handled by SUSE, other companies are apprehensive to put money in other companies account or even in a personal account which even SUSE does not do so. That is the biggest benefit we stand from a foundation. -- Regards Manu Gupta -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, email: opensuse-project+owner@opensuse.org