On 10/15/2011 3:36 AM, Robert Burrell Donkin wrote:
On Sat, Oct 15, 2011 at 1:14 AM, Shane Curcuru<[email protected]> wrote:
And I'm on El Reg!
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/10/14/apache_openoffice_alive_well/
Hope I did OK in the interview. At least I got a good closing quote, even
if it was a little tweaked in the story.
Perhaps in
"The ASF ... said that there was no need for additional donations"
we should have been more compassionate.
If you have the magic spell that causes reporters to always quote you
accurately and completely, please do let me (and especially Sally) know!
I was not given a chance to review the story text before posting.
AIUI the business model used by TDF and TeamOOo requires donations.
Statements like this damage our relationship with potential downstream
consumers, and risk reducing ecological diversity.
A key goal should be to encourage the development of a rich and deep
office office ecosystem.
I'm not sure I'd say "Key goal", but yes, that's a good thing overall.
I would feel much more comfortable adopting
the position that "Apache does not need or use cash donations to fund
development but encourages exciting and innovative downstream efforts
of all kinds and understands that some not-for-profit players need
donations right away to get keep hacking".
Personally, I'd prefer to focus on what we need to do, and that we're
happy to work with any other willing communities. The point is that the
ASF does not have an urgent need of more funding to help the Apache
OpenOffice podling continue operations, nor will more funding directly
help them create a release sooner/with more features/whatever.
And - separately - I'm still wondering why Team OpenOffice e.V. chose
the specific wording in their fundraising release, and wondering why
they haven't officially communicated with Apache lists about it. I have
to admit that lack of communication is... quite disappointing.
But maybe some good could come out of this. Why not get together to
release a statement clarifying who needs donations right now, why and
what cool stuff they are going to fund with the cash? (Something
positive with as many potential players as possible...)
(Personally, I would love to see the FSF enter the ring with a
downstream GPL GNUberOffice integrating emacs, R, GIMP etc)
We need to focus on working on our mission and telling our stories. I'm
confident other organizations will find their own ways forward. (On the
official level, at least; if you want to go blog about new ideas for
collaboration please do!)
- Shane
Robert
