On 12/04/2011 08:00 AM, Pascal Bleser wrote:
On 2011-12-04 11:20:04 (+0100), Per Jessen
wrote: Pascal Bleser wrote:
On 2011-12-02 11:09:32 (+0100), jdd
wrote: Reading the Pascal platform, I was concerned by his declaration about foundation. Not to say he's not right :-)
Well it's just my opinion (ok, not just mine), it's definitely open for debate, and I'm fine being proven wrong :)
The only thing I would really like to see happening is a discussion about it. I firmly believe it was the right thing to do at the time where we took that decision, but I'm not convinced it still is right now: the situation has changed.
How has it changed exactly? We know the ownership of SUSE has changed, but how is that significant wrt the creation of the openSUSE foundation?
AJ and Alan have worked behind the scenes with the accounting department at SUSE in order to provide better ways to directly support the openSUSE project.
A few things still need to be sorted out, and most aren't quite finished enough to be mentioned publicly, but the outlook is pretty good and both AJ and Alan are confident that it's going to work.
So nothing I can really talk about right now, let's give them some more time to sort out the remaining nitty gritty details, it will be announced in due time if it works out.
If not, well, we can go on with the foundation.
Note that I didn't advocate to kill the foundation downright. It's more of a moratorium: given what's being worked on, and the risks that come with a foundation, my personal opinion is that we should rather put the foundation on ice right now, and re-examine the situation in one or two years from now.
It's not a zero-sum game: going with a foundation means a lot of risks too. That's okay, but we need to make sure the benefits outweigh the risks. I believe they definitely did when we were with Novell, and where communication and discussion on that matter was a lot more difficult for many small reasons, but my point is that right now, and with what's in the pipe, I personally believe that the balance has changed.
Hope that clarifies a bit, and sorry for not being able to give out all the details right now -- I certainly wouldn't want to do it without AJ and Alan's OK, it might be too soon to speak about it :)
cheers
Along with the excellent explanation the Pascal has given, I would like simply to note one of the principal reasons I wanted to join the board was to help establish a foundation, as I do have experience with setting up a non-profit in the US, as well as working one for Scribus. Moreover, while I am American, I have lived in France now seven years and have been conducting business in Europe since 1992, so I am also quite familiar with the differences in legal systems. With the Attachmate acquisition, a great many things have changed for the better with respect to openSUSE and the openSUSE community. So, I also have changed my mind that the need for a foundation is less urgent today. The reasons are too numerous to note, but this comes from not only from board activities, but as well as many one to one discussions with the folks who work for SUSE. I am only speaking for myself and not the board, but my considered opinion is it is still early days for the openSUSE community to tackle trying to establish a foundation. It is a *lot* of work and paperwork. We should, given the current situation, be focusing on more important issues: attracting more contributors, making contributions easier and ensuring current contributors feel rewarded and valued to name a few things. Hope that helps to clarify the situation a bit. Cheers, Peter Linnell openSUSE Board Member -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, email: opensuse-project+owner@opensuse.org