Hi Steve, Thank you for reading my long email. I didn't know how to convey the information with fewer words. It looks like you had the same challenge below. :-)
I couldn't agree more with this statement from your email: > I think you need to hire someone to do the software related tech work if > you want to use EMC2 in your business. My efforts (plenty of hours, phone calls, emails, etc.) have yet to yield a quote from a programmer who has a working knowledge of Linux and EMC (or is willing to learn EMC). If you know of someone who actually has the capabilities and will define their expectations for providing their services I would be very interested in contacting them. Although I am US based, as long as the programmer can speak (or type) English understandably then the programmer could be anywhere. I agree with your comment below that creating an organization is easy to say and presents many questions and challenges to actually do it. Thanks again (to everybody who stayed awake) for reading my long email and your thoughtful response. Have a good day, Jim Fleig PS (My attempt to replace a previous version of Ubuntu with 8.04 has resulted in the following error message: Disk Boot Failure, Insert System Disk and Press Enter. Prior to installing the 8.04 version the hard drive was scrubbed with DBAN. I have tried several things that I found on the internet (more than a few people have had the same problem) but have yet to solve the problem. It seems that the hard drive needs to be formatted. I have tried to find a format utility that will fit on a floppy. The computer will still boot from the floppy. I haven't been able to find that utility yet. This is where I so often find myself. The computer will not work and I spend hours wrestling with the computer instead of doing whatever it was I wanted to do with the computer. This is where I need tech support.) ----- Original Message ----- From: "Stephen Wille Padnos" <[email protected]> To: "Enhanced Machine Controller (EMC)" <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, April 19, 2009 12:43 AM Subject: Re: [Emc-users] What's coming in manufacturing > Hi Jim > > I was going through your (long :) ) list of points, responding to each > one, when I realized that all my responses point to the same conclusion. > > I think you need to hire someone to do the software related tech work if > you want to use EMC2 in your business. You could of course contract > someone to provide tech support, with whatever response / resolution > times make you comfortable. You could instead choose to pay for > software licenses, maintenance, and support contracts from well-known > vendors. The money part is a relatively simple calculation. The > confidence part is a bit more nebulous. > > I think there's some confusion between having a central entity that > manages money and having individuals accept money for working on EMC2. > I don't think anyone has any issues with individuals doing work on EMC2 > and getting paid for it. Several of us have done this in the past, > including me. There is no reason why you can't hire any programmer off > the street to make your GUI happen, or to do anything else you want to > have done. > > Now let's look at an "EMC corporate entity". I'll assume that there are > several people like you out there - people who would donate because they > like the software, hire people to do maintenance and feature additions, > tech support, etc. If there aren't any donors, there's no need for an > entity to manage donations :) > > If we create a non-profit, there are massive IRS reporting > requirements. The entity would most likely need to hire an accountant. > (I believe there are quarterly reports, similar to 941 tax filings for > corporations, in addition to forms and records showing where every penny > goes, and justifying that there really is no profit to be taxed) There > needs to be someone who will decide how "non-earmarked" donations get > distributed. Which feature requests get acted upon, and in what order. > We're talking about a project manager. A project manager with no > programmer-employees (most likely), and only volunteers to get things > done, kind of like it is now. > > Even with a non-profit, we're into a political arena. Who decides what > will be done, by whom, and at what price? Who decides who that > "decider" will be? Should the board, or a different group elected by > mailing list members get to decide? Should it only be people who have > donated? Pro-rated based on donation size? There is significant work > that has already gone into EMC2 - should some of the money allocated to > one feature be given to the people who made the foundation on which the > new code rests? > > A for-profit company could be started by someone. It wouldn't be the > community though. It would be someone who decides they want to sell > support and customization services for EMC2. That company/person would > have no specific rights to use the names and domains that are currently > in use. They would have the rights that we all have - to modify the > code at will, with the stipulation that their customers have full rights > to use, modify, and distribute the source code. I think there are a > host of political issues with someone just starting up a company, > especially if they claim to represent "the EMC2 project" or "the EMC2 > community". > > When all is said and done, I don't see any reason why you can't have > everything you want for tech support and feature additions. The only > thing that will be missing (which wasn't explicitly mentioned) would be > getting support assurances from a company with a proven track record, > and that your customers will recognize and be comfortable with. > > I'd also like to say that I don't think any of your points are > unreasonable. The only thing that would be unreasonable would be to > expect that people who do this in their spare time should change their > priorities based on what you want. The easiest way to fix that problem > is to pay someone, so they're no longer working on it in their spare time ;) > > Incidentally, you mentioned in a previous email that you had made an > offer to donate money, which wasn't well received. While I don't doubt > that's true (we have politely declined donations several times), I also > don't see where you made the offer. From time to time, I see comments > like this, and I wonder which EMC-related communication medium I'm not > subscribed to. (I've seen it mostly in complaints like "I asked this on > the forum, and nobody answered me for 37 whole minutes!", which was > confusing to me when we had no forum) > > Thanks for the comments. > - Steve > > [snipped your comments - this is long enough without them ;) ] > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Stay on top of everything new and different, both inside and > around Java (TM) technology - register by April 22, and save > $200 on the JavaOne (SM) conference, June 2-5, 2009, San Francisco. > 300 plus technical and hands-on sessions. Register today. > Use priority code J9JMT32. http://p.sf.net/sfu/p > _______________________________________________ > Emc-users mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stay on top of everything new and different, both inside and around Java (TM) technology - register by April 22, and save $200 on the JavaOne (SM) conference, June 2-5, 2009, San Francisco. 300 plus technical and hands-on sessions. Register today. Use priority code J9JMT32. http://p.sf.net/sfu/p _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
