Re: Candidacy: Lionel Dricot

[Martyn Russell <martyn lanedo com>]

On 23/05/11 15:28, Dodji Seketeli wrote:
> Martyn Russell<martyn lanedo com>  a écrit:
>
> > On 23/05/11 12:02, Bastien Nocera wrote:
> > > On Mon, 2011-05-23 at 09:29 +0200, Lionel Dricot wrote:
> > > >    It is not only about having a page that list the
> > > > commercial support companies. It's more about a deep collaboration
> > > > between the foundation and the companies that live from GNOME.
> > >
> > > I personally don't think that the Foundation needs to be involved in
> > > setting this up. Rubber-stamping this, certainly, but I don't think that
> > > those companies that offer services need the Board to be involved to
> > > make changes to the GNOME website.
> >
> > Isn't that part of the problem? If the foundation isn't behind this,
> > won't it seem completely self indulgent on behalf of businesses alone?
>
> Why would that be any different from the general scheme of a given
> company doing its own marketing?

Because you're officially endorsed by the foundation and that's a 3rd 
party which isn't directly the corporation and has the interests of 
GNOME at heart, not the company. To potential clients, the difference is 
quite important.

> Do "people" necessarily think that a
> company is self indulgent when it does its own marketing?

I do. There's nothing to stop a company selling services where they have 
no expertise through good marketing (for example). This (IMO) hurts 
customers and in the ends affects the projects related.

> > What I personally would like to see is much more backing from the
> > foundation. E.g.
> >
> >   - A web page
> >   - A banner at the next desktop summit
> >   - Something in the booklets given out at the next summit perhaps?
> >   - Some PR occasionally about how well projects are doing
> >   ... etc
>
> Seriously, if these companies are really serious about this and if
> economy of scale is amongst what you are looking for, why not start
> something like a GNOME Business Alliance then?  That would be focused on
> pushing those business related things, experiment with various
> innovative communication approaches etc.  At least, that would be a
> known entry point for anything business related.  And when enough
> experiment and data is gathered, if merging that alliance back into the
> Foundation makes sense, then so be it.

Right, that's the sort of thing I would love to see. But don't you think 
it makes sense to have this backed and instantiated by the foundation?

--
Regards,
Martyn