I think we are aware enough of Florian's post. :-) As I mentioned a couple of days ago on the marketing list, I would much rather have a neutral space made available for this sort of discussion, and do not want OOo lists to be dominated by this sort of post. If someone wants to suggest a neutral space, that's great: go ahead.
best Louis On 2011-05-26, at 10:24 , Volker Merschmann wrote: > Hi, > > I am forwarding this also to this list as there had been zero response > on disc...@openoffice.org and d...@openoffice.org. > As there have been some answers on dev@marketing, please follow-up there. > > Thx > > Volker > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Florian Effenberger <flo...@documentfoundation.org> > Date: 2011/5/25 > Subject: [marketing-dev] Why TDF should be the place for one united Community > To: d...@marketing.openoffice.org > > > Hello everyone, > > I have not been subscribed to this list for months, but due to Louis' > recent Cc, I was made aware of the discussion going on -- so, as a > representant of TDF, but also as someone for whom personally the > community means a lot, let me say a few words. > > I indeed see the current situation as an ideal basis for uniting > things. The diversity the Community is in now doesn't help anyone. If > you now think we, TDF, are happy and get satisfaction out of the > current situation, you are terribly wrong. Even if we expected > something like that to happen, our intention was to safeguard the > project from this eventuality, not to profit from it. > > We all have similar goals: a free office suite, available to everyone. > So let's not discuss about the past, about what has happened and about > the reasons that led to this, but rather focus on the future. > > I want to openly repeat our invitation to everyone to join The > Document Foundation and the LibreOffice Community. Why do I think that > we are the right place to continue the work? > > In yesterday's blog post, we summed up where we stand, and reading it > will help to understand the current situation: > > > http://blog.documentfoundation.org/2011/05/24/updates-on-the-foundation/ > > 1. We are vendor neutral. I am sorry that I have to object to Louis' > statement of us being a proxy for Microsoft -- nothing can be further > from the truth. I must confess, that by statements like these, I feel > even personally insulted. I spend many hours per day on a pure > volunteer basis, and if anyone can point on those of my doings that > are proxying for Microsoft, I would be interested to hear them. > Otherwise, I'll ask to stop spreading those wrong assumptions -- as > they are simply that: wrong. > > 2. We have a strong legal backing, not only by the German nonprofit > "Freies Office Deutschland e.V.", but also by the Software in the > Public Interest (SPI), and we are on track with establishing the > Foundation as a legal entity. Even right now, we have all options > needed for dealing with legal aspects, accepting and spending money. > We already can and do maintain trademarks, brands and other assets. > > 3. We have an independent infrastructure that works and is not > controlled by nor depends on a single entity. In addition, as we are > not using a fixed web framework, we are very flexible in what we do. > > 4. We have not only gained a lot of momentum, but also a strong > developer base of more than 200 volunteers, amongst them 40 who > contribute on a very regular basis. Yes, of course, any contribution > corporations with paid developers do are highly welcome and help a lot > -- but already right now, we are in a status where we could drive the > project without them, if the worst case would occur. This is something > we never managed to achieve in ten years' of OpenOffice.org. > > When I first read the Oracle announcement from April, talking about an > independent, noncommercial entity, my first thoughts were -- and still > are -- "this is exactly what TDF is doing". I have seen proposals of > setting up another foundation, or moving to an existing foundation > that is not TDF. Honestly, this does not make very much sense to me. > It would again lead to a diversity, would require many efforts, and > would continue to irritate the market at large. > > Why reinvent the wheel? OpenOffice.org is already very special in many > of its processes. Having it under the umbrella of another, existing > entity, would require lots of changes to fit in there. TDF has, from > the very beginning, been shaped as a new entity with processes that > fit to what we have accomplished the last years. We changed things > that didn't work, and improved things that do work -- isn't this the > best basis to build on? Let's not waste energy in once again trying to > fit under an umbrella, but rather work jointly together on our future. > > I am not saying that TDF does everything right and 100% perfect. We > are giving our best, and I think we do a fairly good job. I've seen > comments that TDF is missing big corporate support, and that the whole > ecosystem is at risk. Again, I consider this terribly wrong. Of > course, we would love to have much more support from corporations > already, but building this up needs time, requires trust and > confidence, and after all, support is growing rapidly. If anyone > thinks by setting up a new foundation or by doing a few phone calls > you can get big corporate support, I must say that almost sounds > delusionary. And does it really make sense that in the future, two > entities will try that out? Wouldn't it be much better to speak > united, with one voice? > > In my letter of resignation last October > (http://www.mail-archive.com/dev@marketing.openoffice.org/msg11691.html), > I've said that I am looking forward to talking again about options to > cooperate. I feel that time has come now. > > So, I would be really interested of what actually prevents from > cooperating with TDF, and uniting once again. Are there any valid > reasons? Let's leave out what happened in the past -- a lot of bad > words have been said, but digging into that does not help. > > What compelling reasons are there to not work together again, in one > Community? > > TDF is there, TDF is open, and to me, it would be the ideal home of a > united Community. The decision about that requires no leader, but you, > anyone of you, can make it on your own. > > Our future can be bright. Let's make it together. > > Florian > > -- > Florian Effenberger <flo...@documentfoundation.org> > Steering Committee and Founding Member of The Document Foundation > Tel: +49 8341 99660880 | Mobile: +49 151 14424108 > Skype: floeff | Twitter/Identi.ca: @floeff > -- > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe send email to dev-unsubscr...@marketing.openoffice.org > For additional commands send email to sy...@marketing.openoffice.org > with Subject: help > -- > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe send email to dev-unsubscr...@native-lang.openoffice.org > For additional commands send email to sy...@native-lang.openoffice.org > with Subject: help -- ----------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe send email to dev-unsubscr...@native-lang.openoffice.org For additional commands send email to sy...@native-lang.openoffice.org with Subject: help
