Terry Hancock wrote:
Patrick McNamara wrote:
In that vein,
here are a number of folks who have been privately nominated and
or/seconded.
Hi Patrick,
I'm honored and *surprised* to be on that list. OTOH, I'm not sure what
a board member is responsible for, so I'm not sure how (in?)appropriate
that is.
I suppose that now is a as good a time to spell the role I perceive for
the board members. Firstly, contribution is measured in many ways, not
just design artifacts. To make this thing work, we need business savvy,
technical acumen, and a lot of luck. Thing I personally am looking for
in board members... dedication, tact, a belief that we are working on
something that really will be of benefit, pragmatism, negotiation
skills, personal drive. In fact, many of the thing I look for when I
interview someone for my day job.
Deep technical knowledge is certainly not a must. I would prefer
someone with light technical knowledge but a deep understanding of how
various pieces, business, development, Open Source, etc, can be fit and
molded to our needs.
I have contributed, and/or would be happy to continue to contribute,
graphics,
press materials, documentation (for users), and general marketing
ideas. Of
course, I'll also *test* the OGC1 when it becomes available (a part of
doing
documentation, anyway).
I am of course, an extraordinarily opinionated free software and
free hardware advocate (and I suppose boards are about making
recommendations). ;-)
This is a good thing. Be careful and know when to back down, even when
you "know" you are correct. I'm not picking on you, so please don't
take it that way. :) This is a problem I suffer from just as much. My
boss at work will vouch for that. I have a feeling that being pragmatic
will be almost as important as being opinionated in this venture.
I am extremely unlikely to contribute ANY hardware design, verilog code,
or even driver software. I'm not saying I'd never consider it, but
realistically,
it's unlikely -- I lack the skills, don't have enough motivation to
acquire them,
and am swamped with other work and projects. So if active technical
developer contribution is a requirement, then you should consider me out.
Active technical contribution is not at all a requirement. In fact I
would like to find some decidedly non-technical, more business oriented
folks to help keep all us techno-nerds in line. :)
...
On the name, I would like to encourage you to go with
"Open Hardware Foundation", because, as discussion on the list has veered
this way and that, the limitation to "graphics" may start to seem very
strange.
Yes, unless I run into trouble registering the name in Texas, which I
doubt, I intend the name to be "The Open Hardware Foundation".
Mind you, I think there may have already been an "openhardware.org" at
one time. At the present, however, it redirects to
"www.hiphopcapital.com"
which claims to be the "the home of online bling bling". :-D
Not sure if anything can be done about that. Looks like
OpenHardwareFoundation.org might be unused, though.
Cheers,
Terry
Now for a little more on what I expect the board of directors to have to
mange. Before incorporation we will need to review the company bylaws.
Some of the rules and regs will be absolutely required for 501(c)(3)
certification. Others will be up to us. Also, we will need to discuss
whether or not to have shareholders. Whether if they do, we will grant
voting rights and on what grounds. We will need to determine if, in the
near to medium term, we want the board to run the company or if we want
to put in place a management structure. We will also need to select a
secretary and treasurer. These will be important as they will be key to
keeping us out of trouble with the tax man and other regulators.
In the near to mid term, we will not have tax exempt status from the IRS
so going after funding will be difficult, though once tax exempt status
is granted, it is retroactive meaning any prior donations can be
deducted from your income tax in the US. We will need to see what the
laws for such things are in the EU and elsewhere. Still, we will need
to drum up funding and the board will be responsible for overseeing the
spending of that funding. Do we buy development cards for folks who
can't afford one? How do we determine who we would purchase one for?
Under what conditions, etc.
I would also like the board to oversee some more "press" related items.
We need to define "Open Source Hardware" and "Open Documentation
Hardware". I personally think that we need to put together an GPLish
license specifically for Open Source Hardware (whatever that is). We
need to work towards making the Open Hardware concept known and
understood. We need to build our presence.
In the long, long term if we are successful, we will need to decided
what the next effort will be.
Patrick M
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