Re: [tdf-discuss] How Close Is TDF...? [WAS Re: OpenOffice.org Apache Incubator Proposal: Splitting^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^HREUNITING the Community?]

2011-06-18 Thread Robert Burrell Donkin
On Thu, Jun 9, 2011 at 12:01 PM, Florian Effenberger
flo...@documentfoundation.org wrote:

snip

 I guess a slight risk that needs to be taken care of exists in all
 constellations. In the worst (!) situation, Apache could die as foundation,
 so could TDF. For TDF, it is rather unlikely, as German foundations are
 built in a way they can not vanish that easily. That's why the incorporation
 takes so long, and that's exactly why we've voted for Germany. Once you're
 established, you are approved that your budgets and statutes are safe that a
 long-lasting foundation is nearly guaranteed.

IMHO For any software foundation, legal risk is probably the most
serious one faced.

 The question is similar to What would be if Apache Foundation stopped to
 exist tomorrow?.

 (Each member has the information required to quickly reboot an ASF clone)

 Sure, but what would happen to the assets, as the reboot would a different
 legal entity?

Beyond the brand, Apache chooses to have few assets or employees (I
can remember the time when we had none of either)

 What I want to say: I guess the theoretical risks are as high for Apache
 than for any other foundation, including TDF.

Different organisations adopt different strategies, and this is
reflect in their degree of legal risk.

Apache takes IP risks very seriously and has an excellent pro-bono
team together with a broader community of experts. Our framework is
public and open for others to learn from. We (and some corporate
players like IBM) believe that this reduces our risk to an acceptable
level.

 Will TDF be in a position to easily clone and reboot without serious
 damage to the wider ecosystem?

 Well, normally, it is not needed, as - see above - German foundations are
 built in a very stable way. However, in the worst case, I think the
 situation would be similar to other foundations. The knowledge is public, so
 anyone could do what we have done. The only question is the legal assets,
 but that would happen to every entity and foundation. Apache would have the
 same struggles we would have in the very unlikely event of closing the
 foundation.

Apache (and foundations with similar structures) are carefully
structured to allow easy replacement within the ecology. But a
trade-off exists and others choose differently.

snip

 If a legal dispute bankrupted TDF, what would prevent assets
 transferred being sold?

 The law. Even with the currently existing association there are rules for
 what the existing property has to be used, in our case public, chartibable
 purposes, that serve similar purposes as we do. So, selling them to a
 corporation would be *not* possible when the association gets bankrupt. I
 guess that it's even more strict for foundations what you can do with your
 assets.

Good :-)

(worth explaining on the website since this setup isn't possible in
many jurisdictions)

 Could you expand on the precise meaning of relicensing in this case?

 Basically, what you received from Oracle:
 Instead of LGPLv3, the code you have been granted has been (re)licensed
 unter the Apache license.

I expect the donation to arrive at Apache using a software grant [1]
(or possibly a CCLA [2]). Apache will then offer licenses to the
public. Oracle need not offer the public a license. This means that
well tested contractual licensing is used between Oracle and Apache
whilst the unilateral public licensing is issued by a non-profit.

 We asked for having it (re)licensed under the
 LGPLv3+/MPL.

Dual licensing is problematic and requires considerable bookkeeping to
track provenance. AIUI TDF uses LGPLv3 (please jump in if I've
misunderstood). So why did the TDF ask for a dual license?

 So, we didn't ask for an exclusive license, nor a copyright
 transfer, but rather for having the existing code licensed under a different
 license, just as it happened with you afterwards.

(As explained above, the details were quite different.) Now, you can
obtain a public license from Apache compatible downstream with the
LGPLv3.

If Oracle issued a public LGPLv3 license for the code covered by the
Apache donation, what advantages would this have for the TDF which the
public license from Apache does not?

 AIUI Trademarks have to be defended and maintained. A transfer
 therefore implies costs (above an unlimited license, say) but allows
 tighter control.

 I know, but we have the legal options of maintaining and defeating
 trademarks. Actually, if that side-note is allowed, I am the one who started
 approaching the download fraud sites back in 2008 or 2009, in my role as
 Marketing Project (back then) Co-Lead. So, I am not totally unexperienced in
 this area. ;-)

So, the TDF brings existing legal experience in trademark defense.

 Does TDF own rights to the LibreOffice brand?

 Yes. LibreOffice and The Document Foundation are registered trademarks
 in the EU, other applications pending:

 http://esearch.oami.europa.eu/copla/trademark/data/1/1/009444571

Great :-)

(For the public 

Re: [tdf-discuss] How Close Is TDF...? [WAS Re: OpenOffice.org Apache Incubator Proposal: Splitting^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^HREUNITING the Community?]

2011-06-09 Thread Robert Burrell Donkin
On Tue, Jun 7, 2011 at 3:55 PM, Florian Effenberger
flo...@documentfoundation.org wrote:
 Hi,

 Robert Burrell Donkin wrote on 2011-06-07 09.00:

 (I'll try to avoid asking too many questions at once)

 Feel free, I try to reply to all of them, if they haven't been replied in
 the meantime by someone else. Hard time following all mail threads. :-)

meetoo

 1. What would constrain this legal entity from closed sourcing these
 assets or selling them?

 Our statutes. We have binding statutes that are for fostering free office
 software, and we are acknowledged of being charitable. So, simply changing
 or closing down things would be nearly impossible.

Great :-)

 In addition, such topics could be covered by a contract. I can imagine,
 without speaking officially for the German association here, that there
 would have been no problem in signing a contract that sets certain
 limitations on what could be done with the assets. Like You have to keep
 the assets, do not sell them, and do not make closed source out of things.
 If you cannot manage them at some point in the future, you have to hand them
 over to another entity taking care of that..

True but requires a level of trust in the corporate counter-party (for
anything more than a simple and clean contract). Too often, just
nothing more than a move in the game...

 The question is similar to What would be if Apache Foundation stopped to
 exist tomorrow?.

(Each member has the information required to quickly reboot an ASF clone)

 For all these things, precautions can be taken. :)

+1

Will TDF be in a position to easily clone and reboot without serious
damage to the wider ecosystem?

 2. What would transfer of assets achieve for the TDF that a license would
 not?

 I guess it depends on the type of the exact license. An asset transfer is
 more than a license, and gives more safety and stability,

IMHO the choice between licensing and ownership is not so simple, and
there are times when licensing has advantages...

If a legal dispute bankrupted TDF, what would prevent assets
transferred being sold?

 but depending on what is in the license, the latter one could have been 
 enough.

(So, I'd like to work towards a clearer public understanding of these
essential requirements)

 But, we need to see two things:

 If you read the letter of intent, we did not ask for a copyright assignment
 (i.e. asset transfer) on the *code*, but rather for a relicensing of the
 code.

Talking about a work having a license is useful short hand but I
sometimes find this language confusing. More precisely but less
concisely upstream producers issue licenses which permit downstream
consumers to perform actions otherwise restricted by one or more IP
law.

Could you expand on the precise meaning of relicensing in this case?

 We did indeed ask for a *trademark* transfer (i.e. asset transfer),
 but I guess a good license could have worked as well. It's hard to predict
 that without knowing details, of course, but discussing always helps... :)

AIUI Trademarks have to be defended and maintained. A transfer
therefore implies costs (above an unlimited license, say) but allows
tighter control.

Does TDF own rights to the LibreOffice brand?

Robert

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Re: [tdf-discuss] How Close Is TDF...? [WAS Re: OpenOffice.org Apache Incubator Proposal: Splitting^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^HREUNITING the Community?]

2011-06-09 Thread Florian Effenberger

Hi,

Robert Burrell Donkin wrote on 2011-06-09 12.22:


In addition, such topics could be covered by a contract. I can imagine,
without speaking officially for the German association here, that there
would have been no problem in signing a contract that sets certain
limitations on what could be done with the assets. Like You have to keep
the assets, do not sell them, and do not make closed source out of things.
If you cannot manage them at some point in the future, you have to hand them
over to another entity taking care of that..


True but requires a level of trust in the corporate counter-party (for
anything more than a simple and clean contract). Too often, just
nothing more than a move in the game...


I guess a slight risk that needs to be taken care of exists in all 
constellations. In the worst (!) situation, Apache could die as 
foundation, so could TDF. For TDF, it is rather unlikely, as German 
foundations are built in a way they can not vanish that easily. That's 
why the incorporation takes so long, and that's exactly why we've voted 
for Germany. Once you're established, you are approved that your budgets 
and statutes are safe that a long-lasting foundation is nearly guaranteed.



The question is similar to What would be if Apache Foundation stopped to
exist tomorrow?.


(Each member has the information required to quickly reboot an ASF clone)


Sure, but what would happen to the assets, as the reboot would a 
different legal entity?


What I want to say: I guess the theoretical risks are as high for Apache 
than for any other foundation, including TDF.



Will TDF be in a position to easily clone and reboot without serious
damage to the wider ecosystem?


Well, normally, it is not needed, as - see above - German foundations 
are built in a very stable way. However, in the worst case, I think the 
situation would be similar to other foundations. The knowledge is 
public, so anyone could do what we have done. The only question is the 
legal assets, but that would happen to every entity and foundation. 
Apache would have the same struggles we would have in the very unlikely 
event of closing the foundation.



I guess it depends on the type of the exact license. An asset transfer is
more than a license, and gives more safety and stability,


IMHO the choice between licensing and ownership is not so simple, and
there are times when licensing has advantages...


Sure. The transfer of ownership in the letter of intent was one option, 
but for sure a license, if crafted carefully, could serve similar options.



If a legal dispute bankrupted TDF, what would prevent assets
transferred being sold?


The law. Even with the currently existing association there are rules 
for what the existing property has to be used, in our case public, 
chartibable purposes, that serve similar purposes as we do. So, selling 
them to a corporation would be *not* possible when the association gets 
bankrupt. I guess that it's even more strict for foundations what you 
can do with your assets.



Could you expand on the precise meaning of relicensing in this case?


Basically, what you received from Oracle:
Instead of LGPLv3, the code you have been granted has been (re)licensed 
unter the Apache license. We asked for having it (re)licensed under the 
LGPLv3+/MPL. So, we didn't ask for an exclusive license, nor a copyright 
transfer, but rather for having the existing code licensed under a 
different license, just as it happened with you afterwards.



AIUI Trademarks have to be defended and maintained. A transfer
therefore implies costs (above an unlimited license, say) but allows
tighter control.


I know, but we have the legal options of maintaining and defeating 
trademarks. Actually, if that side-note is allowed, I am the one who 
started approaching the download fraud sites back in 2008 or 2009, in my 
role as Marketing Project (back then) Co-Lead. So, I am not totally 
unexperienced in this area. ;-)



Does TDF own rights to the LibreOffice brand?


Yes. LibreOffice and The Document Foundation are registered 
trademarks in the EU, other applications pending:


http://esearch.oami.europa.eu/copla/trademark/data/1/1/009444571

(It still speaks of OpenOffice.org Deutschland e.V. as the name change 
is pending at the registry court; afterwards, the trademark application 
will read Freies Office Deutschland e.V.)


Florian

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Re: [tdf-discuss] How Close Is TDF...? [WAS Re: OpenOffice.org Apache Incubator Proposal: Splitting^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^HREUNITING the Community?]

2011-06-07 Thread Robert Burrell Donkin
On Mon, Jun 6, 2011 at 9:21 PM, Volker Merschmann merschm...@gmail.com wrote:
 Hi,

 2011/6/6 Jim Jagielski j...@jagunet.com:
 On Jun 6, 2011, at 3:57 PM, Volker Merschmann wrote:
 2011/6/6 Robert Burrell Donkin robertburrelldon...@gmail.com:

 Until the TDF has taken that last step, expect to be challenged about
 your readiness ;-)

 I'd like to take up your offer :-)

 But here on this list and on the understanding that we're trying to
 work together to assess for the public record how close the TDF is

 TDF is so near that it had offered help to Oracle last month:
 http://blog.documentfoundation.org/2011/06/06/publishing-our-recommendation-to-oracle/

The TDF certainly seems confident. People (and corporations) are often
reluctant to accept claims from campaigning organisations without
public evidence. Hopefully, we might be able to work together to
establish clearly and in public where the TDF is today and where it
might be tomorrow.

 Good to see the list... Not knowing things for sure, but I
 would guess that Oracle had issues with #3, which gave away
 (what I would expect to be) huge chunks of h/w infrastructure,
 esp to an entity which was still in the process (though close!)
 of finalizing its foundational status...

 I think you have misread that.

That's the way I read it too. Thanks for clarifying.

 There was no question for getting any
 infrastructure or hardware. Just the possiblity to _transfer_ the
 content of wikis/web etc.
 This is the same as with ASF now.
 And you oversee (as many) that there is an interim legal entity, the
 Freies Office Deutschland e.V..

(I'll try to avoid asking too many questions at once)

1. What would constrain this legal entity from closed sourcing these
assets or selling them?
2. What would transfer of assets achieve for the TDF that a license would not?

Robert

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Re: [tdf-discuss] How Close Is TDF...? [WAS Re: OpenOffice.org Apache Incubator Proposal: Splitting^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^HREUNITING the Community?]

2011-06-07 Thread Cor Nouws

Robert Burrell Donkin wrote (07-06-11 09:00)


The TDF certainly seems confident. People (and corporations) are often
reluctant to accept claims from campaigning organisations without
public evidence. Hopefully, we might be able to work together to
establish clearly and in public where the TDF is today and where it
might be tomorrow.


All fine to show what TDF is - we do that oh so often. But could you pls 
explain what purpose this would serve in the Apache OOO project ?


Thanks,

--
 - Cor
 - http://nl.libreoffice.org


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Re: [tdf-discuss] How Close Is TDF...? [WAS Re: OpenOffice.org Apache Incubator Proposal: Splitting^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^HREUNITING the Community?]

2011-06-07 Thread Jim Jagielski

On Jun 6, 2011, at 4:20 PM, Florian Effenberger wrote:

 Hi,
 
 Jim Jagielski wrote on 2011-06-06 22.13:
 Good to see the list... Not knowing things for sure, but I
 would guess that Oracle had issues with #3, which gave away
 (what I would expect to be) huge chunks of h/w infrastructure,
 esp to an entity which was still in the process (though close!)
 of finalizing its foundational status...
 
 your interpretation of #3 is wrong. It reads available for transfer, and 
 emphasizes that by into The Document Foundation's infrastructure. There is 
 not a single word about hardware wanted.
 

Thx for the clarification... BTW, it also mentions

integration with Oracle ERP and CRM stacks

Did you really want (and expect) direct access to such incredibly
sensitive and important parts of Oracle's business structure?
How does that help the community? It seems much more something
a competing business would want.
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Re: [tdf-discuss] How Close Is TDF...?

2011-06-07 Thread Italo Vignoli

On 6/7/11 1:50 PM, Jim Jagielski wrote:


Thx for the clarification... BTW, it also mentions
integration with Oracle ERP and CRM stacks
Did you really want (and expect) direct access to such incredibly
sensitive and important parts of Oracle's business structure?
How does that help the community? It seems much more something
a competing business would want.


The sentence is: This is why we welcome a technical cooperation with 
Oracle on the development and maintenance of connectors with the Oracle 
and MySQL databases as well as the integration with Oracle ERP and CRM 
stacks.


Technical cooperation is quite a different thing from direct access. 
Microsoft third parties have developed a wealth of these connectors and 
integration features with Oracle products, which are in the interest of 
Oracle as well as the end user.


These integration features were supposed to be part of the proprietary 
product Oracle Open Office, but have only been hinted on the product 
sales pitch and never provided by Oracle.


Although I am not a developer, I imagine that in order to develop their 
plugins MS third parties have used some kind of APIs or SDK in order to 
get access to pieces of information inside Oracle database or CRM data 
files.


Anyway, if there was something to be clarified about our document, a 
short email or a phone call asking for further details - instead of a 
prolonged we are still working on it answer - would have been a better 
choice.


I do not think that going over our letter to Oracle with the intent of 
finding areas where it could have been improved does any good to the 
exhisting and future relationships.


Oracle received this letter in late April and has never reacted, while 
it looks that in a week has decided for the ASF solution. Fair enough. 
It is rather evident that there are reasons beyond our understanding, 
which are part of Oracle corporate perception of TDF.


Best regards.

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Re: [tdf-discuss] How Close Is TDF...?

2011-06-07 Thread Jim Jagielski

On Jun 7, 2011, at 8:50 AM, Italo Vignoli wrote:
 
 I do not think that going over our letter to Oracle with the intent of 
 finding areas where it could have been improved does any good to the 
 exhisting and future relationships.
 

I agree... My going over it was simply to indicate areas which
I *think* (again, I have no idea, nor do a *want* to know) may
have been reasons Oracle declined, since that seems a point
that people are extremely curious about.


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Re: [tdf-discuss] How Close Is TDF...?

2011-06-07 Thread Italo Vignoli

On 6/7/11 3:21 PM, Jim Jagielski wrote:


I agree... My going over it was simply to indicate areas which
I *think* (again, I have no idea, nor do a *want* to know) may
have been reasons Oracle declined, since that seems a point
that people are extremely curious about.


Provided that they received the letter and they never replied I think it 
is reasonable to state that they never considered it, because of 
corporate reasons we will never know.


Between humans, before declining you usually investigate further and 
then provide a reason for declining. Otherwise, it looks like you are 
just ignoring (which is fine).


Corporations are just not as educated as humans, and therefore do not 
feel they should behave following the basics of mutual respect. This is 
the reason why I have decided to abandon a corporate career.


In addition, corporations are just too different from volunteer 
projects, and trying to understand a decision using a volunteer POV can 
only lead to severe frustrations.


TDF has sent a letter to Oracle, which has been ignored. It is a fact. 
We decided to send it because we felt we had to try every solution, but 
what has happened afterwards tells us that the letter has been ignored 
for unknown reasons (as I am sure that Oracle will never provide any 
further detail).


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Re: [tdf-discuss] How Close Is TDF...? [WAS Re: OpenOffice.org Apache Incubator Proposal: Splitting^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^HREUNITING the Community?]

2011-06-07 Thread Florian Effenberger

Hi,

Robert Burrell Donkin wrote on 2011-06-07 09.00:


(I'll try to avoid asking too many questions at once)


Feel free, I try to reply to all of them, if they haven't been replied 
in the meantime by someone else. Hard time following all mail threads. :-)



1. What would constrain this legal entity from closed sourcing these
assets or selling them?


Our statutes. We have binding statutes that are for fostering free 
office software, and we are acknowledged of being charitable. So, 
simply changing or closing down things would be nearly impossible.


In addition, such topics could be covered by a contract. I can imagine, 
without speaking officially for the German association here, that there 
would have been no problem in signing a contract that sets certain 
limitations on what could be done with the assets. Like You have to 
keep the assets, do not sell them, and do not make closed source out of 
things. If you cannot manage them at some point in the future, you have 
to hand them over to another entity taking care of that..


The question is similar to What would be if Apache Foundation stopped 
to exist tomorrow?. For all these things, precautions can be taken. :)



2. What would transfer of assets achieve for the TDF that a license would not?


I guess it depends on the type of the exact license. An asset transfer 
is more than a license, and gives more safety and stability, but 
depending on what is in the license, the latter one could have been enough.


But, we need to see two things:

If you read the letter of intent, we did not ask for a copyright 
assignment (i.e. asset transfer) on the *code*, but rather for a 
relicensing of the code. We did indeed ask for a *trademark* transfer 
(i.e. asset transfer), but I guess a good license could have worked as 
well. It's hard to predict that without knowing details, of course, but 
discussing always helps... :)


Florian

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Re: [tdf-discuss] How Close Is TDF...?

2011-06-07 Thread Robert Derman

Italo Vignoli wrote:

On 6/7/11 3:21 PM, Jim Jagielski wrote:


I agree... My going over it was simply to indicate areas which
I *think* (again, I have no idea, nor do a *want* to know) may
have been reasons Oracle declined, since that seems a point
that people are extremely curious about.


Provided that they received the letter and they never replied I think 
it is reasonable to state that they never considered it, because of 
corporate reasons we will never know.


Between humans, before declining you usually investigate further and 
then provide a reason for declining. Otherwise, it looks like you are 
just ignoring (which is fine).


Corporations are just not as educated as humans, and therefore do not 
feel they should behave following the basics of mutual respect. This 
is the reason why I have decided to abandon a corporate career.
Corporations do not have any emotions or feelings, but the people who 
run them do.  Perhaps there were hurt feelings at Oracle because leaving 
OpenOffice.org to found The Document Foundation meant that these people 
were dissatisfied with the stewardship provided by Oracle.  Perhaps 
there were feelings of rejection involved here.  Perhaps someone at 
Oracle took it personally.  Sometimes people in business can be petty 
about such things, and from what I have heard about him, Larry Ellison 
might be that kind. 



In any case, it is now just so much water under the bridge and it is now 
time to just move on and forget about OpenOffice.  I suspect that 
OpenOffice will soon become irrelevant.  The Document Foundation is 
doing such a good job with LibreOffice that I really don't think end 
users will miss OOo. 


In addition, corporations are just too different from volunteer 
projects, and trying to understand a decision using a volunteer POV 
can only lead to severe frustrations.


TDF has sent a letter to Oracle, which has been ignored. It is a fact. 
We decided to send it because we felt we had to try every solution, 
but what has happened afterwards tells us that the letter has been 
ignored for unknown reasons (as I am sure that Oracle will never 
provide any further detail).





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[tdf-discuss] How Close Is TDF...? [WAS Re: OpenOffice.org Apache Incubator Proposal: Splitting^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^HREUNITING the Community?]

2011-06-06 Thread Robert Burrell Donkin
(I've dropped the cross post to the Apache Incubator since I'd like to
pick up just the topic of readiness)

On Sun, Jun 5, 2011 at 8:02 PM, Florian Effenberger
flo...@documentfoundation.org wrote:
 Greg Stein wrote on 2011-06-05 20.39:

snip

 This might not affect other topics, but honestly, I think the perception
 of
 what already is in existence is not clear enough for many parties on this
 list. :-) Hope I could shed some light on it...

 You very much did. Thank you!

+1

 Thanks! If there are questions, feel free to ask them. I elaborated on that
 topic so much, as I fear that there are just false rumors spreading at the
 moment. It is definitely not right that TDF is unable to handle things that
 would be required due to Oracle's new step. We *are* able to handle things,
 not only from the community, but also from the legal perspective. If people
 doubt that, I am happy to discuss this in public as well but we never have
 been asked these questions - it was simply presumed we weren't ready yet.
 Which is just wrong.

Until the TDF has taken that last step, expect to be challenged about
your readiness ;-)

I'd like to take up your offer :-)

But here on this list and on the understanding that we're trying to
work together to assess for the public record how close the TDF is

Okay?

Robert

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Re: [tdf-discuss] How Close Is TDF...? [WAS Re: OpenOffice.org Apache Incubator Proposal: Splitting^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^HREUNITING the Community?]

2011-06-06 Thread Volker Merschmann
Hi Robert,

2011/6/6 Robert Burrell Donkin robertburrelldon...@gmail.com:
 On Sun, Jun 5, 2011 at 8:02 PM, Florian Effenberger
 flo...@documentfoundation.org wrote:
 Greg Stein wrote on 2011-06-05 20.39:

 snip

 This might not affect other topics, but honestly, I think the perception
 of
 what already is in existence is not clear enough for many parties on this
 list. :-) Hope I could shed some light on it...

 You very much did. Thank you!

 +1

 Thanks! If there are questions, feel free to ask them. I elaborated on that
 topic so much, as I fear that there are just false rumors spreading at the
 moment. It is definitely not right that TDF is unable to handle things that
 would be required due to Oracle's new step. We *are* able to handle things,
 not only from the community, but also from the legal perspective. If people
 doubt that, I am happy to discuss this in public as well but we never have
 been asked these questions - it was simply presumed we weren't ready yet.
 Which is just wrong.

 Until the TDF has taken that last step, expect to be challenged about
 your readiness ;-)

 I'd like to take up your offer :-)

 But here on this list and on the understanding that we're trying to
 work together to assess for the public record how close the TDF is

TDF is so near that it had offered help to Oracle last month:
http://blog.documentfoundation.org/2011/06/06/publishing-our-recommendation-to-oracle/

Bye

Volker


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Re: [tdf-discuss] How Close Is TDF...? [WAS Re: OpenOffice.org Apache Incubator Proposal: Splitting^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^HREUNITING the Community?]

2011-06-06 Thread Jim Jagielski

On Jun 6, 2011, at 3:57 PM, Volker Merschmann wrote:

 Hi Robert,
 
 2011/6/6 Robert Burrell Donkin robertburrelldon...@gmail.com:
 
 Until the TDF has taken that last step, expect to be challenged about
 your readiness ;-)
 
 I'd like to take up your offer :-)
 
 But here on this list and on the understanding that we're trying to
 work together to assess for the public record how close the TDF is
 
 TDF is so near that it had offered help to Oracle last month:
 http://blog.documentfoundation.org/2011/06/06/publishing-our-recommendation-to-oracle/
 

Good to see the list... Not knowing things for sure, but I
would guess that Oracle had issues with #3, which gave away
(what I would expect to be) huge chunks of h/w infrastructure,
esp to an entity which was still in the process (though close!)
of finalizing its foundational status...


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Re: [tdf-discuss] How Close Is TDF...? [WAS Re: OpenOffice.org Apache Incubator Proposal: Splitting^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^HREUNITING the Community?]

2011-06-06 Thread Florian Effenberger

Hi,

Jim Jagielski wrote on 2011-06-06 22.13:

Good to see the list... Not knowing things for sure, but I
would guess that Oracle had issues with #3, which gave away
(what I would expect to be) huge chunks of h/w infrastructure,
esp to an entity which was still in the process (though close!)
of finalizing its foundational status...


your interpretation of #3 is wrong. It reads available for transfer, 
and emphasizes that by into The Document Foundation's infrastructure. 
There is not a single word about hardware wanted.


Florian

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Re: [tdf-discuss] How Close Is TDF...? [WAS Re: OpenOffice.org Apache Incubator Proposal: Splitting^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^HREUNITING the Community?]

2011-06-06 Thread Volker Merschmann
Hi,

2011/6/6 Jim Jagielski j...@jagunet.com:
 On Jun 6, 2011, at 3:57 PM, Volker Merschmann wrote:
 2011/6/6 Robert Burrell Donkin robertburrelldon...@gmail.com:

 Until the TDF has taken that last step, expect to be challenged about
 your readiness ;-)

 I'd like to take up your offer :-)

 But here on this list and on the understanding that we're trying to
 work together to assess for the public record how close the TDF is

 TDF is so near that it had offered help to Oracle last month:
 http://blog.documentfoundation.org/2011/06/06/publishing-our-recommendation-to-oracle/


 Good to see the list... Not knowing things for sure, but I
 would guess that Oracle had issues with #3, which gave away
 (what I would expect to be) huge chunks of h/w infrastructure,
 esp to an entity which was still in the process (though close!)
 of finalizing its foundational status...

I think you have misread that. There was no question for getting any
infrastructure or hardware. Just the possiblity to _transfer_ the
content of wikis/web etc.
This is the same as with ASF now.
And you oversee (as many) that there is an interim legal entity, the
Freies Office Deutschland e.V..


Volker


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