Board of Directors Elections 2018 - Candidacy - Robert McQueen

[Robert McQueen <robert mcqueen me uk>]

Name: Robert McQueen
E-Mail: ramcq gnome org
Corporate Affiliation: Endless
IRC, Twitter, etc: ramcq

Dear Foundation members,

I would like to put my name forward as a candidate to serve as a
director on the GNOME Board in 2018/19.

I’ve been a GNOME and freedesktop.org technical contributor in one form
or another for around 13 years. Most recently I've become the main
sysadmin behind the Flathub "app store" and build service for distro-
agnostic Linux desktop software. I believe Flatpak is the most
promising and commercially-agnostic technology to allow the free
desktop to provide a stable target for both FOSS and commercial app
developers, without harming our ability as a community to innovate on
the core OS and desktop.

Professionally, I have worked on the commercial adoption of GNOME and
our technologies for almost as long. Originally as the founder and CTO
of Collabora, and currently as the VP of Deployment at Endless, I've
worked on 8 (at least!) different commercial platforms based on the
GNOME stack, across a range of desktop, mobile and other embedded
industry segments. I sat on the GNOME Advisory Board for several years
while I was at Collabora, and have appeared there on behalf of Endless
on a few occasions.

I think the combination of my professional background and direct
technical contributions gives me a great perspective on what makes for
successful cooperation between Free Software projects and commercial
entities from both sides. I would like to use my experience as a
manager and a company executive to contribute to the project in non-
technical ways. I believe I can help the GNOME Board adopt a more
supervisory role, while the GNOME Foundation can take advantage of its
recently-pledged donation, experienced ED, and initiatives such as the
GNOME Internships to get more actively involved in both project
activities and fundraising programmes than was previously possible.

In terms of my agenda, I would like to see the Foundation use its
resources to continue to pushing for the important software freedom
priorities that brought the project together. For example, GNOME should
produce a desktop which is a first-class home for developers and other
creators, without corporate restrictions on what can be built or for
whom. It’s more important than ever that the GNOME project gets support
to provide a desktop for all, which respects users privacy and allows
people to control their data without undue corporate influence or
intrusion. Some of this work is best addressed in a non-profit context
to ensure the individual user freedom remains paramount.

That said, as well the importance of remaining true to its goals, I
believe that a Free Software project needs a diversity of users and
contributors to stay healthy and impactful. I would love to see the
GNOME Foundation continue to build on and expand the commercial
partnerships that it has, to ensure that there are many robust
partnerships which help to further GNOME’s mission and reach as many
people as possible with our free desktop.

Thanks for your time considering my candidacy, and I hope to have the
opportunity to serve the Foundation members as a director on the Board.

Many Thanks,
Rob