FSF's role in GNOME (was Re: Fwd: Questions for the board election candidates)

["Bradley M. Kuhn" <bkuhn ebb org>]

I suppose it goes without saying that I disagree with David Nielsen's
points about FSF, but I wanted to draw attention to one specific issue.

gnomeuser gmail com wrote today:
> I do not believe it to be in GNOMEs best interest to continue our
> association with [FSF]. Doing so would only serve to allow them to
> further tarnish our image with little if any benefit to GNOME in return.

As most on this list know, I've been the GNOME Advisory Board as FSF's
representative for the last decade.  Since, as a non-profit, FSF receives
Advisory Board membership with no fees, I've always felt it was right to
"give back" in volunteer time (instead of cash [0]) to GNOME.  In that
capacity, I've done a number of things to help GNOME.  Here are a few
examples from just the last two years:

  * Answered numerous licensing questions from GNOME developers on a
    regular basis.

  * Assisted in the hiring of a sysadmin position, helped recruit the
    current GNOME Foundation Executive Director, and participated in the
    hiring committee for the Executive Director position.

  * Co-drafted GNOME's Copyright Policies, at the request of GNOME
    Foundation's Board:
         http://live.gnome.org/CopyrightAssignment
         http://live.gnome.org/CopyrightAssignment/Guidelines

I do volunteer work like this because FSF wants to help GNOME.  I do it in
the spirit of goodwill and affiliation among the two organizations.

Obviously, if GNOME's new Board takes a policy to sever its association
with FSF, I'd be presumably kicked off the Advisory Board and would cease
my ongoing volunteer work for GNOME that I do on behalf of FSF.  I suppose
if you feel these contributions above have tarnished GNOME's image, then
that would make sense.  However, I think even that small list of recent
contributions alone shows that GNOME *does* receive direct, valuable
benefits from FSF, in addition to other intangible benefits that I think
are useful.

GNOME project was founded as part of GNU precisely because GNOME was the
Free Software desktop project most dedicated to the principles of software
freedom that FSF has championed.  I have always felt the two organizations
-- despite some personal conflicts that might occur among leaders in the
two organizations -- were kindred spirits in this regard.  I hope the new
GNOME Foundation Board will continue that tradition.

[0] Separately and additionally, note that notwithstanding paying no
    Advisory Board fees, FSF recently made a financial contribution to
    GNOME's Outreach Program for Women:
    http://www.gnome.org/news/2012/05/gnome-launches-new-round-of-outreach-program-for-women-internships-and-improves-other-outreach-initiatives/
--
Bradley M. Kuhn, Member of the Board of Directors, Free Software Foundation