At 12:11 PM -0800 on 11/13/99, Alain Farmer wrote:
>> Alain: Will these commercial ventures contribute
>> anything to the coffers of the group so that we can
>> become self-financing?
>
>Anthony: What expenses would the partnership have?
>
>Alain: Let me start with the administrative stuff:
>
>1. Registering the trademark on the name of our
>software; 2. Registering the trademark on the name of
>our partnership (perhaps);
Skip that; saves money.
>3. Registering our
>partnership agreement;
Need it be registered? I don't think it does -- we're not forming a legal
person, after all.
>4. Registering our collective
>copyright (optional but strongly recommended).
Good idea.
>
>Alain: Let's move on now to the technical stuff:
>
>The UFP web server is decreasing in value every day.
Enough free webservers out there that if we can't manage to get enough in
donations, we can use one.
>It will eventually have to be replaced. Software had
>to be upgraded and maintained on a continuous basis.
Apache, Linux: Total cost $0. Even a 486 can saturate a T1; don't worry
about it.
>My free Internet priviledges are going to expire soon.
Ouch... high-speed connections do cost money.
>Anthony: People could always donate, I suppose.
>
>Alain: I suppose (for now) that charitable donations
>will indeed be only our means of financing. I, for
>one, am committed to seing this project through to the
>end, and sink some of my own money into it to achieve
>our goal. But depending entirely on charitable
>donations is such a precarious route to take. Our lack
>of funds may inhibit our development, particularly
>when it comes time to promote our wares to the World!
Never stopped Linux. I'd rather win on technical superiority than on
marketing, like a certain large company which shall remain nameless... and,
for that matter, certain multicolored computers.
>
>Anthony: Forking can just mean that you think there is
>a better way to do it. It is not hostile all the time.
>
>Alain: Granted. But forking is nonetheless to be
>avoided when possible. United we stand, divided we
>fall ...
Not always. I think I'm falling in love with my egcs/gcc example :) They're
far better off for the fork.
>
>> Eric: So, why not use a corporation? Expense - they
>> cost around 300$ filing fee and about $1000 for
>> lawyers fee.
>
>> Alain: We could raise that much couldn't we?
>
>Anthony: Alain, don't be silly. We don't even have a
>product -- or anything resembling one, and you want to
>raise money?
>
>Alain: What's silly about about raising a couple of
>thousand dollars? It doesn't have to
>business-oriented, nor do we necessarily have to have
>a product in order to raise some money. The HyperCard
>List pulled it off so that they could place an add to
>Save HyperCard.
A: There was a product -- HyperCard.
B: The people on that list use it, and make money off it. They have a good
reason to support it.
C: The HC list is _much_ bigger. We're a little Hotweels toy, and they're a
Canyonero ("12 yard long, tow lanes wide, sixty-five tons of
American pride...").
