Hi Anca, On Dec 15, 2009, at 7:03 PM, Anca Luca wrote:
> Hi Vincent, > > It sounds pretty good to me. > There are a few items we need to make sure we implement right (making it > clear > what's commercial and what's open on xwiki.org, the 'rules' for getting the > offer listed, etc), but those are matters of the actual implementation and > not > the idea itself. > > On 12/04/2009 04:44 PM, Vincent Massol wrote: >> Hi everyone (devs and users), >> >> While we have a clear governance for write access to our source >> repository (http://dev.xwiki.org), we're missing a clear governance >> for xwiki.org. The idea is to address mainly the following 2 questions: >> 1) who "owns" it and thus "controls" (or rather provides direction >> for) its content >> 2) can it be used for business advertising (support, paid packages, >> consulting services) >> >> Bit of History about XWiki SAS >> ======================== >> >> - XWiki SAS (http://xwiki.com) is the company founded by Ludovic >> Dubost the creator of XWiki (I'm the CTO of XWiki SAS in addition to >> being a committer here). >> - Most of the active contributors are also employed and paid by XWiki >> SAS to develop the XWiki software. Today that's >> -- 12.5 committers (developers) >> -- 1 open source product manager (see >> http://markmail.org/thread/ggaaw4u6yyci4oan >> for its definition) >> -- 1 designer >> -- 1 tester/technical writer >> - XWiki SAS sells services around the open source software, see >> http://www.xwiki.com/xwiki/bin/view/Services/ >> - XWiki SAS truly believes and understands open source, see >> http://www.xwiki.com/xwiki/bin/view/About/Values >> -- I also wrote a blog post on this some time back: >> http://massol.myxwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Blog/XWikiSASAndOpenSource >> - XWiki SAS has promised "not to do evil" ;), see its manifesto at >> http://www.xwiki.com/xwiki/bin/view/About/Manifesto >> - XWiki SAS is paying for the servers and maintenance of xwiki.org, >> myxwiki.org, the maven repo, the svn repo, the hudson build serversn >> the free JUG farm, and more >> >> Issue at hand >> =========== >> >> XWiki SAS would like to generate more revenue to be able to increase >> the development pace of the XWiki software. We'd like to fund even >> more the development of XWiki, so that it becomes an even better >> product. We've asked you what you'd like to see in the future in XWiki >> and you've answered on this survey result: >> http://www.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Blog/Features+Survey+Results >> >> We'd like to implement those features as fast as possible. >> >> For this we need to ensure that users interested in commercial >> services find easily the way to http://xwiki.com, even when they >> arrive on xwiki.org. >> >> This is true for XWiki SAS's services but also for any company willing >> to offer services around the XWiki open source project. There's no >> magic. Developers need to be paid when they work full time on some >> project. We need a commercial ecosystem around XWiki for it to >> progress as quickly as its competitors (the collaboration market). We >> need to allow for commercial companies the ability to generate revenue >> from their work on the XWiki open source project. However we also want >> to continue ensuring that all the XWiki development is done in open >> source, under a LGPL license. >> >> Governance Proposal >> ================= >> >> 1) xwiki.org is controlled by the XWiki committers. This means that >> important changes brought to it should be discussed/vote on the list, >> using the same practices as for code commits >> 2) xwiki.org stays open in edit mode to all external contributors (and >> XWiki committers continue to monitor it to remove spam, etc) >> 3) we agree to start with 3 zones where companies can advertise their >> commercial offers on top of the XWiki open source product: >> -- On the download page (for business packages, subscriptions, hosting) >> -- On the support page (for services: support, consulting) >> -- (still to be defined) Possibly on a "Products" tab in the new >> horizontal navigation. The idea would be to do as jboss.org is doing. >> Projects are open source and community and Products are commercial >> 4) the company offerings are listed by their amount of contributions >> to the XWiki open source project. The company that contributes most >> (XWiki SAS today) gets the best spots (top of the list, bigger space) >> 5) Companies who want to be listed should provide some proof of their >> contributions to the XWiki open source project >> 6) XWiki SAS gets some acknowledgment for paying for the xwiki.org >> server/maintenance of it. Probably somewhere in the footer of the site >> or on side panel somewhere > > I think this could be optional as it is included in the support XWiki SAS > offers > for XWiki.org and therefore 'rewarded' through the advertising space. It's different. This is about the hosting of xwiki.org itself. It's not related to support offerings. Thanks -Vincent >> 7) xwiki.org should always remain a site for the xwiki open source >> community >> >> Conclusion >> ========= >> >> We want to stress that this proposal is not about XWiki SAS making a >> commercial takeover of the xwiki.org site. >> >> It's about recognizing that if the XWiki open source software >> progresses quickly today, it's thanks to contributors but also for a >> very large proportion to companies paying developers to work on it, >> either directly (like XWiki SAS or other companies that have >> developers contributing) or indirectly (by paying for example XWiki >> SAS or other companies to work on specific features). >> >> It's also about recognizing that XWiki SAS is happy to see other >> companies willing to contribute to the progress of the XWiki open >> source project and thus to provide a place for these companies to be >> visible too. >> >> I hope that all our contributors but also users of the XWiki Open >> Source software will find this proposal acceptable and I welcome any >> feedback on it. > > That would be a +1. > > Thanks, > Anca Luca > XWiki committer, XWiki SAS employed developer. > >> >> Thanks >> -Vincent Massol >> Hat 1: XWiki SAS CTO >> Hat 2: XWiki committer >> _______________________________________________ >> users mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://lists.xwiki.org/mailman/listinfo/users > _______________________________________________ > devs mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.xwiki.org/mailman/listinfo/devs _______________________________________________ devs mailing list [email protected] http://lists.xwiki.org/mailman/listinfo/devs
