Uri,
Consider the position you put me, or another sponsor, in. You mention a
specific person, someone who is highly respected and extremely talented.
You ask if I consider this person to be as flaky as a character that was
a figment of my imagination, and if I say 'no he is not so flaky', then
the implication is I will provide sponsorship. And if I demur, you might
say 'put up or shut up' and I feel under pressure to do something I
might not really want to.
But even if I say 'sure, how much?' to Damian Conway, what do I say to
another request for a Klingon of altogether unknown character? And
suppose I cant manage the whole amount, but I can pay a part, who makes
up the rest? And suppose I pay my money, but the trip is cancelled, who
pays me back?
And suppose I want to sponsor the development of perl6 over parrot,
leaving training to someone else? Can I respond easily to your direct
request without implying some slur on Damian?
The whole point about having an institutional channel for sponsorship is
to remove the need for personal judgments, for sponsors to specify
exactly how their money should be used, for the procedures to be in
place to cover shortfalls from a central budget, for rules to be clear
about what happens to money that is in excess of earmarked programmes,
and for there to be clarity in all possible grey areas that happen in life.
What the perl6 language needs now is a systematic development plan, with
broad aims and clear goals that will lead to good quality software and
to the tools to enable ordinary programmers to use perl6 for a variety
of tasks. More than that it needs the excitement that comes when there
is tangible progress (just look what has happened to parrot as a result
of the funding arranged via The Perl Foundation). Ad hoc, piecemeal
processes will yield ad hoc piecemeal results.
I have absolutely no issues with the excellent series of courses you
run, especially if they are taught by Damian. But where do they fit into
the general scheme of things? Are they essential to the development of
perl6, or do they only benefit a small group of regional companies. Do
they benefit me (bear in mind that the company I run is based in Moscow,
Russia)?
Sorry. You asked questions I am not prepared to answer because the
questions were posed in a manner that prevents me from answering. Do
this through The Perl Foundation and you will get a clear answer.
Richard Hainsworth
Uri Guttman wrote:
"RH" == Richard Hainsworth <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
RH> No one likes bureacracy. But I feel much happier about handing over
RH> money, or persuading someone else to hand over money, to a group of
RH> people with established procedures and collective responsibility, than
RH> to some enthusiatic individual who promises the earth and whose the
RH> world-number-one genius at code writing, but might also go and blow
RH> the whole lot on girls and booze cos his cat died.
would you think damian has enough anti-flake genome in him to qualify
for a more direct donation? :) if you do and agree that damian is worth
supporting, i have an opportunity to propose. i am producing the perl
college which is a set of classes taught by damian in boston, aimed at
junior perl hackers. the college is sponsored by companies looking to
hire intermediate level perl developers. your company or you as an
individual, can be a sponsor which will support damian to come to the
states for this set of classes and also for the conferences (which he
missed last year because his funding came up short). if you are
interested contact me off list at uri AT perlhunter.com. for more info
on the perl college go to:
http://perlhunter.com/college.html
thanx,
uri, dean of the perl college.
