You actually have the same problem on the non-monetary front as well. For example, things like copyright and IP also pose an ownership gray area for open-source projects (although this is YAGNI for 99% of them).
What, for example, would happen if someone took the source and then decided to violate the license commercially? Would it take an individual committer's lawsuit to enforce the license agreement and IP of NHibernate? I'm not saying NHibernate definitely needs a non-profit, but I just wanted to point out the other side of the coin. I can, however, recommend this book (which I'm in the middle of reading): http://www.amazon.com/Intellectual-Property-Open-Source-Protecting/dp/0596517963 In addition to the IP argument, there is probably also a liability argument (around who gets the lawsuit from a sue-happy ignoramus). And yes, I know the license covers this, but that doesn't stop a stupid company from attempting a lawsuit anyway. Just a few thoughts.. Evan On Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 3:23 PM, Steve Strong <[email protected]> wrote: > Completely agree. What we need is some form of organisation that's > already setup to receive & distribute funds of this nature... > > On 03/02/2010 22:20, Fabio Maulo wrote: > > btw my friends... before create too much noise we should have a look to the > past experience... > > For JBoss NH was not a business. > My personal experience with iMeta-NH-Professional support is 0 (zero). > > Perhaps we are talking about how distribute 0U$D... so... YAGNI can be > applied even here, No ? > > 2010/2/3 Davy Brion <[email protected]> > >> +10 >> >> >> On Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 10:13 PM, Fabio Maulo <[email protected]>wrote: >> >>> and sine when to donate time is different than donate money ? >>> Wasn't Steve's time paid ? >>> Sergej was hired (probably as Steve is a iMeta's employee), sure, and >>> that is a little bit different than donate and receive an invoice. >>> >>> Suppositions: >>> Tomorrow the XYZ company is available to pay 3 months of Richard's time >>> to work in NH. >>> After tomorrow the ZYX company is available to pay 3 weeks of Tuna's time >>> to work in NH. >>> ranlix company is available to spent 3 days of Davy's time to fix >>> something or develop a new feature. >>> >>> My point is that, so far, NH have received donations directly paid to a >>> person with a clear agreement . >>> Everything can continue working in the same way... to manage any kind >>> of amount, for 1U$D up, is not so easy without a real Organization behind >>> the funds. >>> >>> 2010/2/3 Ayende Rahien <[email protected]> >>> >>>> Fabio, >>>> IIRC, Sergej was hired by JBoss, then shortly after put to work on other >>>> things. >>>> iMeta's donation was of time, not money. That makes it easier to >>>> manage. >>>> >>>> >>>> On Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 10:46 PM, Fabio Maulo <[email protected]>wrote: >>>> >>>>> What was around one year of Sergej full time development ? >>>>> What was 3 man-moths (or even more) full time development donated by >>>>> iMeta ? >>>>> >>>>> 2010/2/3 Ayende Rahien <[email protected]> >>>>> >>>>> Were there any donations >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> On Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 10:38 PM, Fabio Maulo <[email protected]>wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>>> Can we take the recent past and no so recent past, of NHibernate >>>>>>> "donations", as example of a possible funds management ? >>>>>>> >>>>>>> 2010/2/3 Davy Brion <[email protected]> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> personally, i don't think the money should go to the committers... >>>>>>>> yeah, we do work on it for free but most of us do it because we _want_ >>>>>>>> to >>>>>>>> work on it, not because it might someday pay some bills >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> i would vote for spending the money on infrastructure... a faster >>>>>>>> jira server, a faster svn server, things like that... >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> On Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 9:04 PM, Steve Strong <[email protected]>wrote: >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> I think the idea is a great one, particularly the offer to match >>>>>>>>> donations - very kind! I do have a couple of comments - firstly, >>>>>>>>> whenever >>>>>>>>> money gets involved, some people have a tendency to loose sight of >>>>>>>>> reality >>>>>>>>> and start seeing $$$ signs in front of their eyes. Given that, I >>>>>>>>> would >>>>>>>>> suggest that we as a group define the rules for how this works prior >>>>>>>>> to >>>>>>>>> taking donations - that way, everyone (us and those donating) >>>>>>>>> understand >>>>>>>>> where the money is going and we don't end up in pointless arguments. >>>>>>>>> I >>>>>>>>> suspect the levels of money won't be all that high, but you never can >>>>>>>>> tell >>>>>>>>> and knowing how it is to be distributed is important. I think we >>>>>>>>> need to >>>>>>>>> answer questions like: >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> - Who is eligible for the money? Any committer? Only "active" >>>>>>>>> committers? What defines "active"? >>>>>>>>> - How is the money split? Do all committers (however that's >>>>>>>>> defined) get the same amount? Is it split by number of commits? >>>>>>>>> Number of >>>>>>>>> lines of code changed? >>>>>>>>> - Who owns the bank account? Who has visibility of it? Is it >>>>>>>>> available for public viewing? >>>>>>>>> - Do we have any other needs for money other than just >>>>>>>>> distributing it amongst individuals? Should we keep a pot for >>>>>>>>> "NHibernate" >>>>>>>>> activities, such as perhaps sponsoring the occasional conference? >>>>>>>>> Hell, if >>>>>>>>> there's enough cash we could even have an NHibernate stand! >>>>>>>>> NHibernate >>>>>>>>> T-Shirts & Mugs anyone?! >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> Secondly, I don't see why you shouldn't take a share of this Ayende >>>>>>>>> - you have made many contributions to the project, and I see NHProf as >>>>>>>>> something different. Although your *knowledge* of NH helped you >>>>>>>>> write it, >>>>>>>>> there was nothing about being a committer that made it possible. >>>>>>>>> Anyone >>>>>>>>> else *could* have written NHProf without being a committer if they'd >>>>>>>>> had >>>>>>>>> both the idea and the ambition to take it forward. NHProf will make >>>>>>>>> its own >>>>>>>>> money and has its own associated costs. I don't really see the two >>>>>>>>> (your >>>>>>>>> commercial activity with NHProf and your altruistic activity with NH) >>>>>>>>> are >>>>>>>>> related. If they are, then any one of us that undertakes commercial >>>>>>>>> NH >>>>>>>>> consultancy or writes or contributes to an NH book etc. would also >>>>>>>>> have to >>>>>>>>> come under the same rules. >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> Any thoughts? >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> Cheers, >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> Steve >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> On 03/02/2010 17:23, Ayende Rahien wrote: >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> Guys, >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> I am setting up a donation campaign for NHibernate. As part of that >>>>>>>>> campaign, my company will donate 5,000$ for the project. >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> Below is the text of the blog post that I intend to post. I would >>>>>>>>> like to get your comments and any suggestions on how to make this >>>>>>>>> better. >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> NHibernate is the most popular Open Source Object Relational >>>>>>>>> Mapper in the .NET framework. As an Open Source project, all the work >>>>>>>>> done >>>>>>>>> on it is done for free. We would like to be able to dedicate more >>>>>>>>> time to >>>>>>>>> NHibernate, but even as a labor of love, the amount of time that we >>>>>>>>> can >>>>>>>>> spend on a free project is limited. >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> In order to facilitate that, we opened a donation >>>>>>>>> campaign<http://pledgie.com/campaigns/8615>that will allow you to >>>>>>>>> donate money to the project. >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> [image: Click here to lend your support to: NHibernate and make a >>>>>>>>> donation at www.pledgie.com !]<http://www.pledgie.com/campaigns/8615> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> *What is this money going to be used for?* >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> This money will go directly to NHibernate committers, in order to >>>>>>>>> sponsor the development of NHibernate itself. >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> As one caveat of that, none of that money is going to go to me >>>>>>>>> personally. As you are probably aware, I have my own commercial >>>>>>>>> interest in >>>>>>>>> NHibernate (NHibernate Profiler <http://nhprof.com/>), so I don’t >>>>>>>>> feel I should benefit from the donations. >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> *Donation Matching* >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> Moreover, my company, Hibernating >>>>>>>>> Rhinos<http://hibernatingrhinos.com/>, >>>>>>>>> is going to *match any donation *to this campaign (to a total >>>>>>>>> limit of 5,000$), as a way to give back to the NHibernate project for >>>>>>>>> the >>>>>>>>> excellent software it produced. >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> *Why should you donate?* >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> If you are a user of NHibernate, you gained a lot from build on >>>>>>>>> such a solid foundation. We ask to you to donate so that we can make >>>>>>>>> the >>>>>>>>> project even better. If your company uses NHibernate, ask it to >>>>>>>>> donate to >>>>>>>>> this campaign. >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> -- >>>>>>> Fabio Maulo >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> Fabio Maulo >>>>> >>>>> >>>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> Fabio Maulo >>> >>> >> > > > -- > Fabio Maulo > > -- Evan Hoff [email protected] cell: 615.870.4302
