In my opinion, if someone funds open source development on OpenSimulator, they can say they are funding OpenSimulator development.
I did EXCLUDE uses of the name to describe or promote/endorse anything else. Melanie Justin Clark-Casey wrote: > On 08/07/10 22:20, Drew Hart wrote: >> I will contact you offlist Wordfromthe Wise. And what was said makes >> sense. I guess my only concern, and I am serious about doing some >> serious fundraising, is the use of the name Open Simulator. I guess if >> I raised money and laid out my position, that I am an independent third >> party interested in hiring coders to contribute to OpenSim, that should >> make using the name okay (people would know I am not officially >> conected)? Also, we would need some independent "observer/accountant" >> to make sure everything is cool and the money spent wisely, but I know >> several that would volunteer their time to do that >> (attorneys/accountants). So if anyone else wants to work on >> fundraising, etc., contact me at dreweh...@gmail.com >> <mailto:dreweh...@gmail.com>. Or if anyone has other ideas on how >> non-programmers can help the code move along, I am open to anything. >> Even if some of the experts want to hold some training sessions so we >> can learn coding - though I am not sure if that is practicable. Thanks, > > Sorry to start off heavy, but please could you not use the name > "OpenSimulator" as part of any external project name. I > have to disagree with Melanie about this - I think that this has to apply to > all projects whether commercial or not. We > need to avoid confusion about what is directly OpenSimulator - as far as I > understand if we don't defend this name then > anybody could start using it since we could not subsequently protect it as a > trademark. > > I don't think there's any issue with using "OpenSimulator" in any support > text. > > I don't think that the comparison with Diaspora really applies. Diaspora are > starting from scratch with a set of > friends who can create a structure that can easily handle funding. OpenSim > has been going for quite a while with a > diverse set of developers with different interests where it becomes much > harder to retrofit certain kinds of organization. > > Diaspora are operating in a space with huge interest. Virtual > worlds/environments, though there obviously are > passionate people involved (not least on this list) are very much less > popular. > > Diaspora, as Michael mentioned, are tackling a fairly well-defined problem, > albeit in an innovative way. Virtual > environments servers, on the other hand, don't really solve a problem in > themselves but provide a platform for doing > lots of other diverse and interesting things, which I feel makes > incorporating all these interests in a funded > environment much harder. > > Moreover, money brings with it organizational overhead. You've already > mentioned the need for independent > observers/accountants and attorneys. And when one starts employing > developers directly the question becomes who sets > their agenda and who decides who is employed. This is why direct employment > and bounties tend to be easier (though I'm > not a great fan of bounties). > > In fact, if there really is money and interest out there, one thing that I > would suggest is setting up a downstream > distribution project of OpenSim, much like the Diva distribution. In > miniature, this is like Debian's (or other Linux > distro's) relationship with Linux. That way, there wouldn't be the high > difficulty of trying to change an existing > developer-oriented culture - instead the distro could start off with whatever > structure and philosophy it pleased. It > could still fundraise and contribute changes/features back to OpenSim but at > the same time it could do stuff which is > always going to be hard in OpenSimulator itself (such as incorporate certain > library content by default or add on web > admin code). > >> >> On Thu, Jul 8, 2010 at 1:02 PM, Michael Cerquoni <nebadon2...@gmail.com >> <mailto:nebadon2...@gmail.com>> wrote: >> >> One of the problems with OpenSimulator project doing this, is it is >> not an established company. There is no central office or managers >> for this project. That aside if you wanted to try to raise funds to >> hire programmers who will submit their code you could certainly do >> that, you do not need OpenSimulator project to do this for you. You >> could also ask some of the OpenSim developers directly if they are >> interested in working for bounty if you can raise the funds. >> Another problem right now is most of the developers are way to busy >> to organize fund raising events, and from my experience Money doesnt >> always solve problems, and can tend to complicate things to the >> point they never actually get done, because once the funds run out >> work just flat out stops and is very difficult to get going again. >> One thing you do not mention is what you would like to see finished >> or what you feel is missing or incomplete. OpenSimulator is a very >> open ended project and will likely always be morphing and changing, >> there will likely never be an end to its development, unlike a >> facebook website which has very limited purpose to its goals. I am >> going to assume you mean Second Life compatibility, this is really >> just a small piece of opensimulator and I will think that you will >> find that most of the people directly involved in OpenSimulator are >> not that interested in recreating second life, there are many >> avenues being pursued right now that look nothing like Second Life, >> one of the major factors really holding this project back is the >> lack of a Open-Source viewer that the OpenSimulator developers can >> work on that is in a usable state, the Second Life viewer source >> code is off limits to OpenSimulator developers and because of this >> making OpenSimulator be second life compatible is not always easy or >> even possible at all in some cases. I think once we see viewers >> like Realxtend Naali and others become more usable you will see >> OpenSimulator move even further from trying to be a second life >> clone. But these are just some of the reasons that I see >> OpenSimulator is taking as long as it has, and it will likely >> continue to take just as long no matter how much money you throw at >> it, but like i said, anyone who has the desire can raise funds and >> hire developers to get involved and contribute the code to this >> project, so please do not wait for the OpenSimulator developers to >> do this for you, as some of the developers that work for Intel Corp >> and IBM Corp, and others like Melanie and Justin have been paid to >> develop and create patches as well as for profit grids like Reaction >> Grid, so its not like this is really something that is not currently >> happening. Hope this helps to explain atleast a little of why >> things are the way they are. >> >> On Thu, Jul 8, 2010 at 7:38 AM, Drew Hart <dreweh...@gmail.com >> <mailto:dreweh...@gmail.com>> wrote: >> >> Okay, that was my catchy title that in no way means any >> disrespect. I love OpenSim, have used it for years, tell >> everyone I meet about it and am a huge fan and supporter. >> Recently a question was asked about a roadmap and progress. I >> would like to expand on that. OpenSim has now been around for a >> while - like years. Yet I can't really use it for clients. So >> here is my question. As a non-coder, how can others help. For >> example, I would gladly donate some decent money if there were a >> coordinated fundraising event and a plan to hire a couple of >> full-time, very qualified developers to really move this along. >> Please, please, please don't take this the wrong way. This is >> NOT a criticism. I know this is done by volunteers and I know >> that this is more ambitious than Second Life, but have we looked >> at other solutions to move the process along. I think there are >> a lot of people like me who would contribute. But, and I stress >> this. Me donating say $1,000 by myself isn't going to do >> anything. We would need a serious fundraising drive, and >> specific and talented people that we could hire full-time as >> consultants/coders to really move this along. >> I would imagine I am not the first to suggest this. But every >> day I see this awesome product I want to use, yet it seems >> months or years away from stable wide-spread use. >> There are now several web sites that help in fundraising. I am >> sure many of you read about the NYU students that raised several >> hundred thousand dollars in a short time so they could spend >> their summer coding a Facebook clone (sort of). Now if 4 >> undergrads can get that kind of money for a Facebook clone, why >> hasn't OpenSim tried something similar. These fundraising sites >> are hot right now - let's take advantage of them! >> Please read: >> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/12/nyregion/12about.html >> The article was written before they raised much more money. >> >> <http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2010/05/12/nyregion/12about.html?scp=3&sq=nyu%20programmers&st=cse> >> >> Drew >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Opensim-dev mailing list >> Opensim-dev@lists.berlios.de <mailto:Opensim-dev@lists.berlios.de> >> https://lists.berlios.de/mailman/listinfo/opensim-dev >> >> >> >> >> -- >> Michael Emory Cerquoni - Nebadon Izumi @ http://osgrid.org >> <http://osgrid.org/> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Opensim-dev mailing list >> Opensim-dev@lists.berlios.de <mailto:Opensim-dev@lists.berlios.de> >> https://lists.berlios.de/mailman/listinfo/opensim-dev >> >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Opensim-dev mailing list >> Opensim-dev@lists.berlios.de >> https://lists.berlios.de/mailman/listinfo/opensim-dev > > _______________________________________________ Opensim-dev mailing list Opensim-dev@lists.berlios.de https://lists.berlios.de/mailman/listinfo/opensim-dev