I don't know whether I were a right person to comment on Sascha's opinion, since I am neither a Novell person nor 'an official representative' :-P of openSUSE community or project, I want to commit my point of view. Sascha 'saigkill' Manns wrote:
In my view the Ambassadors are assets in the Bilance. The should make local Marketing and PR. They should help organizing local events.
I think the following are important: 1.) The A. are representative for the OpenSUSE Project 2.) They read the important Lists (To expand the Knowledge) 3.) They know important things (like Roadmap and others) 4.) Novell are standing behind them and the A. has an local (native Language) Partner from Novell.
Although I can understand what you mean to say, I wonder if every local corporation of Novell can set up such a contact person for community. As far as I can see, Novell doesn't want to be contacted by individuals for openSUSE related issues. In their view, "openSUSE project is a *community-driven* project and Novell just supports and sponsors the project". That's because Novell hired Zonker as a community manager that should be a contact for community. I agree with you that sometimes we need such a contact in local corporation of Novell whom we can talk in our native language. However, when I asked a Novell person (in Japan) to make clear where or who is the contact for community, her answer was, "Officially, we don't have such a contact in our (Japanese local) corporation. So I have to answer, if you have something to talk over openSUSE related issue, you should consult Zonker or board". But if we have to understand so, it means that it is virtually impossible for persons who are not good at English to ask questions or consult Zonker or board about openSUSE, because they can't understand our language (you know, German are doubly blessed than Japanese, since Michael and Henne can understand German at least. Neither Zonker nor board members can understand Japanese at all). As far as I understand, the Ambassador program was aimed to improve this situation. Everyone who are not good at English can ask questions or consult an Ambassador in their region about openSUSE. If the Ambassador can answer, he or she would answer. If the Ambassador can't answer or isn't sure how and what he or she should answer, he or she should consult Zonker or board about the issue.
5.) Money: Novell gives the A. money for traveling and hosting. Thats important. So the A. are free to help in the Country. Novell has a Sales Volume from 25% and the Profit are tripled. So i think the handfull A. can getting Money from Novell.
When we discuss money-related issues, we have to talk with utmost care. And, IMHO, if we have to discuss money-related issues, the discussion have to be as open and transparent as possible, because if the money-related issues are not transparent, it might cause unnecessary distrust, complaint and frustration among people. It might be a very sensitive issue, whether Novell have to provide much more money to openSUSE project or not. So I don't want to discuss about that. As Zonker mentioned in the previous post, "At this time we don't have a separate budget for this." So followings are under the assumption that we can have enough budget for this. There are many things to be clear, if Ambassadors can get money from Novell, even if it were not payment but compensation for the actual cost. a) How can Ambassadors certify that the cost was *minimal* and *necessary* for promoting openSUSE without a doubt ? b) How much should be the maximum limit ? c) For which events this compensation should be valid ? If we don't have unlimited budget for that, it might be impossible to pay for every events. Who can decide, which events are ok but others are not? There may be much more things to be clear in addition to above things. And we have to clear all those points before we start the *compensation* program. Besides, IMHO, we have to put ourselves this question: Is it really fair enough, if *only* Ambassadors can be paid ? And, one thing we have to remember is, if we demand money, we must be demanded the evidence and some KPI (key performance indicator). Is it really happy both for Novell and us - community ? To make all things clear, we must discuss a lot and it takes a long time.
6.) In my meaning it should be better, if the A. are OSMembers. So its guaranteed, that he have enough Knowledge. But this is just my view ;-)
That's are my favorites.
We have to wait for *official* :-P comments for above things. And, don't forget, if we can't get enough budget for that, all these just nothing more than words on paper. Best, -- _/_/ Satoru Matsumoto - openSUSE Member - Japan _/_/ _/_/ Marketing/Weekly News/openFATE Screening Team _/_/ _/_/ mail: helios_reds_at_gmx.net / irc: HeliosReds _/_/ _/_/ http://blog.geeko.jp/author/heliosreds _/_/ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-marketing+help@opensuse.org