Re: Candidacy Announcement for the 2007 GNOME Board Election: George Kraft

[Richard Stallman <rms gnu org>]

    Even if you don't do that right now and was never asked to do, it's not
    impossible that you may be pressured to so in the future, which is why
    the affiliation is important

A very nasty company, whose internal culture is cynical and has little
idea of loyalty, might put heavy-handed pressure on its employees to
do what they think is wrong.  But I think that not many of the
companies involved in GNOME are like that, so I don't expect this to
happen to many board members.  A person treated that way might even
quit in defiance.

So I think the principal worry is something less crude and more
subtle.  A company that is doesn't put heavy-handed pressure on its
employees can inspire loyalty in them.  The employees want the company
to succeed, and they know what is good for it, so they may advocate
the company's interests in the GNOME board, at the expense of the free
software community.  They are not pressured; they do this of their own
free will.

Sometimes what is good for a GNOME-using company is also good for the
free software community.  Sometimes it isn't.  When it isn't, there's
a conflict of interest.

This isn't heavy-handed and ugly, but it is a possible conflict of
interest.  I think it would be a good idea to have fewer rather than
more board members with such possible conflicts of interest.