Re: please participate in GNOME Foundation discussions

[Bart Decrem <bart eazel com>]

Hi everyone,

I too would love to hear from some other folks about how they're feeling
about the proposed plans for the foundation.  I've tried my best to build
off Nat's document, which appeared to have broad consensus, and
incorporate feedback from the community.  I've also tried to resolve
inconsistencies and impossibilities in his draft.

Havoc's summary below, which includes a link to the latest draft of the
foundation's charter, should answer most requests for clarification.

I agree with Havoc that it's not necessarily a bad thing if most people
don't care all that much about this foundation, but right now, the
discussion seems to be between maybe 6 highly vocal folks (including
myself) - so it'd be good to hear a few additional voices.

Specific suggestions for improvements, or specific concerns with the
proposed structure would be most helpful.

Bart

Havoc Pennington wrote:

> [ please follow up to foundation-list only ]
>
> Justin Maurer <justin@helixcode.com> writes:
> > i need more information, and i need it aggregated.
> >
>
> OK, Bart wrote a summary here:
>  http://mail.gnome.org/pipermail/foundation-list/2000-July/000374.html
>
> Let me try to summarize more briefly.
>
> The foundation will have three major components:
>
>  - the membership, available to pretty much anyone that's
>    done anything for GNOME or participates in any way,
>    even a small way; you just have to ask and say "I work
>    on docs" or whatever.
>
>    The membership's main power is to elect the board, and
>    to recall the board if they decide the board sucks.
>
>  - the board, which is 9-15 people elected as a slate by
>    the membership. You vote on a slate, so you can favor
>    a well-balanced group. In addition, the board can't
>    have a majority of members from any company or organization.
>
>    The board will be sort of an executive branch of the GNOME
>    community; it will try to distill our long flamefests^H^H^H^H^H
>    discussions into some kind of statement of what we decided to
>    do. It will also make decisions like "we should spend $1000
>    on a new RAID for *.gnome.org."
>
>  - the "organization advisory board" which is just a group
>    of representatives from companies and groups like Debian
>    that can talk among themselves and offer input to the board
>    or to the community. This group makes no decisions.
>
> Some of the motivations for the foundation:
>
>  - receive and spend money, on things like servers and machines for
>    cash-strapped hackers running 486s.
>
>  - give companies a group to talk to that represents the community.
>    Right now they talk to other companies; we'd rather they talk to
>    the board
>
>  - allow us to make statements or press releases
>
>  - create a small group that's responsible for trying to keep
>    things organized, for example by posting updated roadmaps
>
>  - give companies a way to say "I support GNOME" by joining the
>    advisory group
>
> One of the most important facts is that the board is supposed to help
> build and act on the group consensus; they aren't going to be able to
> make anyone do anything (obviously, we're talking about a foundation,
> not a government).
>
> At LWE, we are going to announce our general intentions to form the
> foundation, and the general structure (membership, board, advisory
> group). Also, by LWE we may have done the legal incorporation
> paperwork.
>
> After LWE, we'll be holding elections for the board, and establishing
> the final bylaws.
>
> That is the current plan, anyway, as I remember it.
>
> Havoc
>
> [ Followups remember to trim the CC line to foundation-list and remove
> the other two lists. ]