Kudos to you all getting this far! I'll digest the rest of this email tomorrow.
Thanks, Gav On 1 May 2013 22:51, John Crisp <[email protected]> wrote: > You know I love to paraphrase :-) > > Friends, Romans, countrymen, coders, integrators, lurkers, hackers, > fiddlers and sysadmins, lend me your ears :-) > > Sorry, but this is long. And I hope I won't have to do it again :-) > However, a lot has happened, and we need to explain the story so far. > > 4 months ago SME was at a crossroads. We had a simple choice. > > Integrate, or disintegrate. > > Get our act together, or the last person to leave would have to turn off > the lights. > > As you are aware I have been trying to form the basis for the future of > the distribution. For a variety of reasons which I will explain, this > has been no simple task. I for one do not know all the answers for the > future. My talents are limited. But there are plenty of people out there > who have great ideas. My job is to find them, bring them together, and > get the best out of them. > > So, after a lot of work from a lot of extremely dedicated people, we > believe we have in place the first brick(s) in the road to a new future. > > A bit of background to start with. Following my original doc on the > Future of SME it seemed to be agreed that we would pursue two immediate > paths, one being to update SME to CentOS 6.x and the second to try and > form a Not-for-Profit 'Inc' as the basis for a proper organisation on > which foundation we could build a solid future. > > As you probably know, v9 is progressing at a pace and we believe it is > near Beta, which is a fantastic achievement in such a short time. It > still needs a huge amount of work, and if you want to see it on your > machines you HAVE to get involved in the process somehow. ANYONE can > test. It just isn't that hard. So please jump in. Go find your own bug :-) > > You can start here : http://wiki.contribs.org/SME_Server_9.0_Development > > Regarding a formal organisation I decided that I would go out and > contact various people to try and form a 'Board' for an Inc. > > I wanted to try and get a good cross section of community members. Old, > and new, programmers and business people, English and non native English > speakers, geographically diverse. > > You may be surprised at the list. A number of people you may possibly > have expected to see here were contacted, but for various good reasons > they were unable to join in. However I can assure you that they are > fully behind us. > > So welcome to the new 'Board' : > > Main Officers : > > President : John Crisp > Secretary : Tony Keane > Treasurer : Greg Zartman > > Board members : > > Daniel Berteaud > Stephane de Labrusse > Shad Lords > Hsing Foo Wang > Stefano Zamboni > Ian Wells > > > > OK - at this point take a deep breath...... get a beer or a coffee, pull > up a chair, relax...... If you have a copy of the Hitchikers Guide to > the Galaxy, grab your towel. The words 'Don't Panic' will shortly reveal > their true importance.... > > > One point that came up literally just a few days ago, (and I am sure it > will overshadow all the nitty gritty) is the name. > > After some research it would appear that legally we cannot easily use > SME Server Inc. We need a name we can control exclusively, and can use > globally. We could probably get around that, but then we would still > have an issue with domain names, and that really is the clincher. sme > domain names are all over the place and mainly out of our control. > > Try www.smeserver.com to see what I mean.... > > That got us thinking and Greg suggested that maybe we do something > completely different and look at another name entirely. > > Originally I thought it might be better with a re-branding and launch of > SME at say v10 (if we ever get that far) but, if it had to be now, then > so be it, and maybe in some respects it is no bad thing. It is an > opportunity to put the past behind, and move on. > > Greg suggested some names and we liked the look of "Koozali" > > As Greg said : > > "Kuzaliwa is Welsh/Swahili for reborn or re-birth. This name has a real > ring to it and some very relevant meaning behind it. I checked and the > following domain names are open: koozali.com, koozali.net, and > koozali.org are open domains." > > So we decided on Koozali Foundation Inc > > Rather than just changing the name completely it was felt that we should > also try and retain the SME part of the current distro and it was felt > that the distro itself should be called Koozali SME Server. We then have > the option of say producing 'Koozali SME Server for Home' or 'Koozali > SME Server for Business' (say with different contribs installed by > default) or whatever else we fancy. Most importantly WE make those > decisions. > > We grasped the nettle and have registered the above domains, and a lot > more, in case anyone else likes it - we don't want them squatted on. > They will all be passed to the Foundation. > > Domain name registration details are here : > > > https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsF8sbFoQ_mRdEZfZ0JhSUp3THAyX3pZMzhNMzVVZkE&usp=sharing > > From a branding point of view it is a good name as it has two 'low > frequency' letter with K and Z which makes it more 'eyecatching' > > There was some debate between Board members about whether to ask the > community to debate the name, or take an executive decision and get on > with it. Last time round the name was a stumbling block so we made the > decision to get on with it and protect the name, and we have therefore > registered a new Inc in the name of : > > Koozali Foundation Inc > > You can see that it is registered here : > > > http://egov.sos.state.or.us/br/pkg_web_name_srch_inq.show_detl?p_be_rsn=1637166&p_srce=BR_INQ&p_print=FALSE > > The By Laws and Articles are here - a lot of this is couched in legalese : > > Articles of Incorporation: > > https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rgqhtwTZ9kDztOgMMiJg5PHngK3iLLmqUNb_jQ57xlM/edit?usp=sharing > > Bylaws: > > https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ndsL14qrigpLVFYTAu9hVRXSm4L5F1GwHelrvUdio7I/edit?usp=sharing > > Minutes from inaugural meeting: > > https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ig4peCRffq6i-O-wQCDx8C0Ppa8KTchjxsWzZzahWCs/edit?usp=sharing > > These docs will go on the Wiki in due course. > > We decided to make the initial term for The Board as 18 months with > annual elections thereafter - otherwise we would have only had 6 months > before trying to run elections and we really need to concentrate on > other things right now. If the community feels that there should be > changes to any of these documents then please let us know and we will > review them accordingly. > > We have kept it simple for now and not worried about Constitutions, > Mission Statements and such like. They can wait for another day. > > Our suggestion would be to use the new name and domains as the new > 'face' of SME with a new and trendier website, whilst maintaining > contribs.org as the documentation resource and engine room of the > system. We can move everything to the domain name in the fullness of > time. Once we have a logo and branding we can look at the web site in > detail. > > We have some designers looking at new logos and we will post them as > soon as we can. You can look at some of the design 'brief' that we are > looking at here : > > > https://docs.google.com/document/d/1355o6D2As8DrDPp6it7nYbQ6hM2dQOI8VA3MgsQTejo > > Suggestions are welcome. > > We have resurrected the Board mailing list and we have been using this > as an easy communication channel between the Board members. We intend to > keep this as a 'by invitation only' group for posting, but the archives > for reading should be available in due course. We want things to be as > open and transparent as possible. > > We know that we have taken a while to get here, but it was important to > get some things straight. We have worked really hard at reconciliation > where we can, and tried to quell dissenting voices as much as possible, > and will continue to do so. We need a united front from top to bottom. > Now is not the time for arguments and trying to settle old scores. We > need to be positive and work together. If you feel something needs > changing, come up with a workable alternative. Don't just say 'no'. > > We believe that you will like the name, or at least feel you can work > with it. We also hope that the community is happy with the Inc. > > Our next immediate target is to get v9 to at least Beta as soon as we > can. We need to focus on that, and need all hands to the pumps. There is > still a lot of work to do. If you haven't done anything, then do it now. > Don't say you are too busy. We all have jobs too....... > > In the meantime we intend to set up two main working groups (if we have > volunteers then maybe we can break this down further) to look at the > future of the distro from two points of view - code development and > business development. We will post more details on this soon, and hope > that more of the community will become involved. But bear in mind that > we must not loose sight of v9 - if we all go and play with new toys and > great ideas, the platform to mount them on will never be launched. So we > need to be careful with our priorities. > > The last point is cash. Let us be blunt about this. SME as it stands > runs on a few generous donations which in no way cover the current > running costs of the hardware. Shad funds a large chunk this out of his > own pocket. The new domains, and company registration have been paid for > personally by members of the Board. If we were a business we would have > been bankrupt a long time ago. > > This CANNOT continue. There has been too much 'take', and not enough > 'give'. We have to change this. The only question will be 'how'. > > I personally have heard people say that they are too busy with installs > to have the time to pay back to SME. But I bet they get their invoices > out to their clients on time. > > If we raised USD 1 per server per year we would have USD 30,000 a year > for servers and whatever else we want to do. USD 5 = USD 150,000 > > The maths is very easy. We have to make paying a little towards it easy > as well. This is not a discussion for right now, but it will be one we > have to have in the near future, and we have to start thinking of > 'chipping in' a little money. Remember too that the Foundation is a > charitable Not For Profit organisation. But it isn't a charity per se ! > We cannot continue on thin air and good wishes. To thrive we need some > hard cash. > > In ending I can honestly say this has been one of the hardest and yet > most rewarding times of my life. I have had moments of despair, and of > elation. Some of the kind words that people have said have been > wonderful, and I want to thank every single person involved in things to > date. People have picked me up when I have been down, and for that I > can't thank them enough. I have made some new friendships which I am > sure will endure for the rest of my life. > > It's been a fraught few months (my wife thinks I might actually have > left home, or even the planet, as she has seen so little of me) for all > concerned in this process. A lot of people have worked extremely hard > 24/7 to make all this happen. > > The members of the Board have been quite simply phenomenal, and both a > privilege and a pleasure to work with. They are consummate committed > professionals in every sense. We have had our differences, and > undoubtedly will continue to do so ! But there is a spirit of > camaraderie and compromise, and always with the future of the distro at > the core of all the debates and decisions. The future of Koozali SME > Server will be safe in their hands. > > I know that there is a lot to take in, and I am sure there will be many > questions, but I trust that the community will feel that we have done > the right thing, and support the new Koozali Foundation wholeheartedly. > > Right, enough of me. It's over to you guys now..... > > B. Rgds > John > > Donation Link > http://wiki.contribs.org/Donate > > Mailing lists - Subscribe to discussions and devinfo : > http://lists.contribs.org/mailman/listinfo/ > > Please keep discussions on the Koozali and the future on the discussions > list, NOT on the devinfo list. > > IRC Freenode #SME_Server or #sme-fr > _______________________________________________ > Discussion about project organisation and overall direction > To unsubscribe, e-mail [email protected] > Searchable archive at http://lists.contribs.org/mailman/public/discussion/ >
_______________________________________________ Discussion about project organisation and overall direction To unsubscribe, e-mail [email protected] Searchable archive at http://lists.contribs.org/mailman/public/discussion/
