Rob has provided clear answers to many of the questions raised. I want to
address the choice and use of languages.
I have been on the Apache OpenOffice project since it was proposed to the
Apache Software Foundation (ASF) at the beginning of June, 2011. I am not a
Member or officer of the ASF. I do not speak for the ASF nor for the Apache
OpenOffice project. These are my personal understandings:
1. THE WORKING LANGUAGE OF THE APACHE OPENOFFICE PROJECT MUST BE ENGLISH
The operation of ASF as a public-interest foundation makes use of English
essential. A single working language is needed for governance, project
accountability, and public oversight of activities. It is critical for
assurance of the integrity of releases, of other deliverables, and operation of
infrastructure and support services under the ASF.
Having a sustainable community -- following the Apache Way -- requires a
shared language.
Having all deliberations be public and visible in one place leads to "if it
didn't happen on the [ooo-dev] list, it didn't happen."
It is challenging to operate this way. The principles are important.
2. THERE ARE ACCOMODATIONS AVAILABLE FOR WORKING IN NATIONAL LANGUAGES
Have multi-lingual, English-comfortable experts provide oversight and
accountability to the Apache OpenOffice (AOO) project. Create governance
arrangements that satisfy ASF and AOO requirements. The arrangement for
governance of the OpenOffice Community Forums is an example. This requires
diligent oversight. Oversight is not management nor is it direct supervision.
It does require active attention.
3. IT IS ALWAYS POSSIBLE TO OPERATE DOWNSTREAM AND CONTRIBUTE UPSTREAM
At Apache, forking is a feature. So is creation of downstream support and
deliverables. Being autonomous requires clean separation: the trademarks and
licenses of the ASF must be honored.
Ideally, anything that would improve the common code base and shared
materials would be contributed back to the origin project using (1) or (2).
To claim operation is part of Apache OpenOffice, the work must be under (1)
or, at the least, (2).
It can all be worked out by discussion toward a mutual agreement.
- Dennis
PS: I understand that my being a native speaker of English is to my advantage
in this situation. It is not in my power to change that. It is in my power to
make every effort to support the participation of non-native English speakers.
I believe that strong multinational and multicultural participation in Apache
OpenOffice is critical. It is possible within the constraints that must be
honored. That takes commitment and effort from all of us.
-----Original Message-----
From: Paulo de Souza Lima [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, May 18, 2012 10:40
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Dealing with a large and diverse project - Native Languages and
project teams
[ ... ]
2 - There's a lot of people here in Brazil willing to help AOO, but they
can't because they can't read/write/speak English. I can count at least
three right now, in our (provisory) mailing list at Escritório Livre.
3 - Some of them, even knowing English language, have difficulties to reach
this list because they feel, let's say, unconfortable in dealing with
"famous people" like many of you. =) Apache seems to be a serious place
(maybe too serious) for those people. They are affraid to be misundestood.
[ ... ]
Sorry but I can't remember the corresponding word in English for the
portuguese word "sisudo", so I placed the word "serious". Maybe someone can
help me because Google Translate couldn't. =)
>
> IMHO, I believe there is more misunderstanding or even lack of
> knowledge about The Apache Way than there are cases of it not working
> for this project. Remember, we've grown very quickly, and a good
> portion of the current volunteers did not go through all the learning
> experiences the initial PMC members had last year.
>
That's a fact!
>
> So let's make a list of whatever real current problems we think we
> have. We might be able to deal with those. But I doubt there will be
> much time left over to deal with hypothetical problems.
>
Well, those I described above are not hypothetical.
>
> -Rob
>
>
Thanks for this opening.
--
Paulo de Souza Lima
http://almalivre.wordpress.com
Curitiba - PR
Linux User #432358
Ubuntu User #28729
