FAQ

[Havoc Pennington <hp redhat com>]

Hi,

Dan and I made up a FAQ on the foundation, to go on www.gnome.org.
Comments welcome.

Havoc

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<article class=faq id="index"> <!-- please do not change the id -->

 <artheader>
  <title>GNOME Foundation FAQ</title>
  <copyright>
   <year>2000</year>
   <holder>Dan Mueth and Havoc Pennington</holder>
  </copyright>

  <!-- do not put authorname in the header except in copyright - use
  section "authors" below -->

  <legalnotice>
   <para>
    Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this
    document under the terms of the <citetitle>GNU Free Documentation
    License</citetitle>, Version 1.1 or any later version published
    by the Free Software Foundation with no Invariant Sections, no
    Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. You may obtain a copy
    of the <citetitle>GNU Free Documentation License</citetitle> from
    the Free Software Foundation by visiting <ulink type="http"
    url="http://www.fsf.org">their Web site</ulink> or by writing to:
    Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330,
    Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
   </para>
   <para>
    Many of the names used by companies to distinguish their products and
    services are claimed as trademarks. Where those names appear in any
    GNOME documentation, and those trademarks are made aware to the members
    of the GNOME Documentation Project, the names have been printed in caps
    or initial caps.
   </para>
  </legalnotice>

  <!-- this is the version of manual, not application --> 
  <releaseinfo>
   This is version 1.0 of the GNOME Foundation FAQ.
  </releaseinfo>

 </artheader>

 <!-- ============= Document Body ============================= -->

 <para>
  This is a list of the most frequently asked questions about the
  GNOME Foundation.
 </para>

 <qandaset>

  <!-- ============= General ========================= -->
  <qandadiv>
   <title>General</title>

   <qandaentry>
    <question>
     <para>
      What is the GNOME Foundation?
     </para>
    </question>
    <answer>
     <para>
       The GNOME Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to 
       advancing the GNOME Project. The GNOME Project is an free
       software development effort, intended to create an open source
       platform for home, office, and appliance desktops.
     </para>
    </answer>
   </qandaentry>

   <qandaentry>
    <question>
     <para>
      Why does GNOME need the GNOME Foundation?
     </para>
    </question>
    <answer>
     <para>
      The GNOME Foundation serves several important roles:
      <orderedlist>
       <listitem>
        <para>
         GNOME has grown to a point where we have hundreds of developers as well
         as a fair number of companies working together to improve GNOME.
         GNOME's previous, completely informal method for making decisions does
         not scale well to its current size.  The GNOME Foundation will provide
         a forum where all of the members of the GNOME community can have a
         voice and help decide the direction that GNOME moves in.
        </para>
       </listitem>
       <listitem>
        <para>
         GNOME needs a voice.  The GNOME Foundation will be 
         responsible for communicating information about GNOME to 
         the media and corporations.
        </para>
       </listitem>
       <listitem>
        <para>
         The GNOME Foundation will make GNOME more open.  All of the important
         "political" decisions which used to be made behind the scenes by the
         top GNOME hackers will now be made in public by the GNOME Foundation.
         Technical decisions will still be made by package maintainers.
        </para>
       </listitem>
       <listitem>
        <para>
          The GNOME Foundation is a legal entity that can accept donations and 
           make purchases to benefit GNOME.
        </para>
       </listitem>
      </orderedlist>
     </para>
    </answer>
   </qandaentry>

   <qandaentry>
    <question>
     <para>
      Is there a web page for the GNOME Foundation?
     </para>
    </question>
    <answer>
     <para>
       For now, there is no dedicated GNOME Foundation page, only 
       the GNOME Project page.
     </para>
    </answer>
   </qandaentry>

   <qandaentry>
    <question>
     <para>
      Where can I read the current draft of the GNOME Foundation charter?
     </para>
    </question>
    <answer>
     <para>
      The current draft of the charter is at 
      http://www.decrem.com/gnomefdn.html. This is an informal document, 
      which will guide the lawyers as they write the formal paperwork
      required for incorporation (such as the foundation bylaws).
     </para>
    </answer>
   </qandaentry>

   <qandaentry>
    <question>
     <para>
            Who are the members of the GNOME Foundation?
     </para>
    </question>
    <answer>
     <para>
        Anyone who has contributed to the GNOME Project may become a member of
  the GNOME Foundation. The primary benefit of membership is the ability to vote
  for the Foundation's board of directors. If you have CVS access, become a
  member by adding your information to gnome-foundation/membership.txt in
  CVS. Otherwise, mail your full real name, your email address, and a sentence
  or so describing your contribution to GNOME to membership@gnome.org, and they
  will add you.
     </para>
    </answer>
   </qandaentry>

   <qandaentry>
    <question>
     <para>
         Is the GNOME Foundation an industry consortium?
     </para>
    </question>
    <answer>
     <para>
      No.  In the current draft of the charter, corporations are represented on
      an advisory board, which has no decision-making power.  Individuals
      working for a corporation may be elected to the board of directors by a
      popular vote of the GNOME Foundation membership (i.e. GNOME developers and
      contributors). Also, the GNOME Foundation charter specifies that the
      board of directors cannot have a majority of individuals affiliated with
      any single company.
     </para>       
    </answer>
   </qandaentry>

   <qandaentry>
    <question>
     <para>
      Why did so many large companies join the GNOME Foundation?
     </para>
    </question>
    <answer>
     <para>
       These companies wanted to see the Linux and UNIX desktop move forward
       decisively, so put their support behind GNOME.
     </para>
    </answer>
   </qandaentry>


   <qandaentry>
    <question>
     <para>
      Will GNOME continue to work with KDE to develop compatibility
      and desktop standards?
     </para>
    </question>
    <answer>
     <para>
       Yes. The GNOME Foundation is simply a response to the increasingly
       difficult task of managing a project as large as the GNOME Project. It
       does not represent a significant change in technical direction or overall
       goals.
     </para>
    </answer>
   </qandaentry>

   <qandaentry>
    <question>
     <para>
      Who can I contact with questions about the GNOME Foundation?
     </para>
    </question>
    <answer>
     <para>
      You might mail foundation-list@gnome.org, where discussion of the
      foundation is ongoing. It's probably a good idea to read the current draft
      of the charter first, to avoid repeating issues we've already covered.
     </para>
    </answer>
   </qandaentry>


  </qandadiv>

  <!-- ============= GNOME Foundation Structure ========================= -->
  <qandadiv>
   <title>GNOME Foundation Structure</title>

   <qandaentry>
    <question>
     <para>
      What does the advisory board do and who is on it?
     </para>
    </question>
    <answer>
     <para>
      The advisory board is comprised of companies and organizations which want
      to further the progress of GNOME.  This is a forum for them to communicate
      with each other and the GNOME Foundation membership.  They have no power
      to make decisions about GNOME.
     </para>
    </answer>
   </qandaentry>

   <qandaentry>
    <question>
     <para>
      What is the board of directors and what does it do?
     </para>
    </question>
    <answer>
     <para>
      The board of directors is a group of GNOME contributors who are elected by
      the membership (i.e. every person who contributes to GNOME). This group
      oversees the GNOME Project and does its best to keep things running
      smoothly, making decisions that need to be made. Typical activities of the
      board might include approving the purchase of a new server, talking to
      companies about getting involved with GNOME, making sure we have a release
      roadmap and release coordinators, and so on.
     </para>
    </answer>
   </qandaentry>

   <qandaentry>
    <question>
     <para>
      What is the membership and what does it do?
     </para>
    </question>
    <answer>
     <para>
      The GNOME Foundation membership is comprised of everybody who contributes
      to the GNOME project.  Thus, it it primarily comprised of volunteer GNOME
      contributors (even with all the corporate contributions to GNOME,
      volunteers still make up the majority of contributors - GNOME is a huge
      project).  The membership's primary role is to elect the board of
      directors.
     </para>
    </answer>
   </qandaentry>

  </qandadiv>

  <!-- ============= Joining the GNOME Foundation ================== -->
  <qandadiv>
   <title>Joining the GNOME Foundation</title>

   <qandaentry>
    <question>
     <para>
      Who can join the Membership?
     </para>
    </question>
    <answer>
     <para>
      Anybody who contributes to GNOME can become a member.
     </para>
    </answer>
   </qandaentry>

   <qandaentry>
    <question>
     <para>
      How can I join the GNOME Foundation as a member?
     </para>
    </question>
    <answer>
     <para>
      Send an email to membership@gnome.org with your name, email address,
      and a description of how you have contributed to GNOME.
     </para>
    </answer>
   </qandaentry>

   <qandaentry>
    <question>
     <para>
      Who can join the advisory board?
     </para>
    </question>
    <answer>
     <para>
      Any company or organization with an interest in GNOME can join the
     advisory board.
     </para>
    </answer>
   </qandaentry>

   <qandaentry>
    <question>
     <para>
      Should my company join the GNOME Foundation?
     </para>
    </question>
    <answer>
     <para>
     The advisory board is a forum where your company can discuss GNOME with
     other companies and key figures from the GNOME community. Joining the
     advisory board also allows you to show your support for the GNOME Project.
     </para>
    </answer>
   </qandaentry>

   <qandaentry>
    <question>
     <para>
      How can my company join the advisory board?
     </para>
    </question>
    <answer>
     <para>
      In the current charter (which is not yet official, because we have not yet
      legally incorporated the foundation), there is an annual fee of $10,000 to
      join the advisory board. This money is used to support the GNOME Project,
      by purchasing servers, attending conferences, etc. The companies that
      announced their participation at LinuxWorld were expressing their intent
      to join the foundation once it is formally incorporated.

            FIXME who to mail if you want to join now.
     </para>
    </answer>
   </qandaentry>

  </qandadiv>
 </qandaset>


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