Re: steering committee vs foundation

[Owen Taylor <otaylor redhat com>]

Alan Cox <alan@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk> writes:

> > 3- although those of us who live in the US don't seem to have a problem
> > with a legal structure centered here, our friends on other continents
> > feel differently about this.
> 
> I think what matters is that the US and non US Gnome foundations (and you
> want both for tax reasons) are seen as equal partners and the ultimate
> direction comes from a board that is both (even if that isnt the board
> that runs the US body for legal purposes)

The question is, is it a problem if it _is_ the board that runs
the US body, assuming that the board was elected in a region-neutral
fashion?

I would state the following premises:
 
 - It is better if the "top body" for GNOME is a legal entity,
   because there are things it can't do (like hold copyright)
   otherwise.

 - It's better to keep the number of entities floating around
   to a minimum.

 - If we are incorporating the "top body", then while it isn't
   better to incorporate it in the US, it is more convenient,
   since the people are doing the work (Bart, collab.net, etc)
   are located here. 

To me, having the GNOME foundation be the top body and incorporated
in the US would be the natural and easy way to do things. At that
point, there probably is no reason why that body couldn't 
also act as "GNOME Foundation US", as well as "GNOME Foundation",
but it would governed with a structure that was simply
"GNOME Foundation." 

Regards,
                                        Owen