[Members] Re: DRAFT airlie

[Luc Verhaegen.]

On Mon, Oct 23, 2006 at 04:09:15PM -0400, Leon Shiman wrote:
> on Mon, 23 Oct 2006 21:00:21 +0200 Luc Verhaegen wrote:
> >
> >On Fri, Oct 20, 2006 at 03:08:15AM +0200, Luc Verhaegen wrote:
> >> 
> >> Meetings and events, and getting people together is a very important 
> >> topic. 
> >> 
> >> I would like to know where this line of "reasonable" and "made 
> >> sense" is. As already explained, Linuxday.at 2005 turned out to be a 
> >> case where this line was not shared by all board members.
> 
> I wished not to respond to this question because my view of the Board 
> discussion differs from the one posted, and I think there are much more 
> important issues on the table.

Are there more important issues on the table?

It has been made clear for several times already that the X.org 
foundation board only should intervene in development in a supportive 
role, not a driving one. The X.org foundation should be the lubricant 
of the X.org community, not the fuel.

The most important tool the board as a collective (so apart from the 
developmental efforts of its individual members) has is the funds 
made available by X.org foundation sponsors. This makes the hows and the 
whys of X.org money spending the most important topic of every board 
election.

X.org foundation board elections are about selecting those board members 
who will make the best use of available funds.

So I don't think that there is another issue on the table, it's mainly 
different facets of the same issue.

Also, I'm interested to hear your view regarding the board discussion 
about linuxday.at.

For me, linuxday.at 2005 ended up leaving a big hole in my budget, and 
it was the only time i ever solicited X funds (be it indirectly). 
Through fd.o I ended up having 2/3rds of my trainticket repaid, about 
half of what was original forseen. I was highly grateful for this, as 
that meant that i could subsequently cover my trainticket to linuxtag 
2006.

> Had I been aware of Linuxday.at, I would have 
> called for support and tried to attend. I had participated in public forums 
> the year preceding in Berlin and in Dresden.
> 
> I have tried to make clear my belief that industry events which offer free 
> booth space among open source colleagues, under the financial umbrella of 
> our corporate sponsors, attended by university, government, private sector, 
> and developer is valuable. The cost is minimal, and the booth staff is free. 
>
> I have spoken with thousands (by now) who are intensely curious about the 
> organization, its products, and its policies. Many active developers are 
> present who are interested to exchange information about their respective 
> organizations.

When i meet other developers, i tend to primarily talk about code and 
directly related matters. When there is talk about the X.org foundation,
then it almost inevitably is about how inefficient X.org sponsors money
is being used currently.

Is this what you mean by exchanging information about respective 
organisations?

> >> 
> >> Linuxday.at is traditionally held the weekend after Linuxworldexpo.de, 
> >> and it turns out that linuxworld did have X.org representation last 
> >> year: 
> >> http://www.linuxworldexpo.de/04_03_01.php?Termin_ID=151&ID=97 
> >> 
> >> And this year there will be X.org presence once again:
> >> http://www.linuxworldexpo.de/adetail.php?ID=123&Aussteller_ID=1241
> >> http://lists.freedesktop.org/pipermail/xorg/2006-October/018504.html
> >> 
> >> I can't help but wonder if there was any X.org money involved in 
> >> Linuxworld 2005. This year, X.org funding does seem available.
> 
> I believe there was, but a small amount.

I see. So not as much as this year?

> >> 
> >> Can there be some clarity as to how this money is being spent? Also, how 
> >> many people have requested funding for next month, as offered in your 
> >> announcement?
> 
> No one (other than myself) has requested funds for this year.

I see. Apart from yourself, who turned up for booth duty last year?

> I will be in 
> Europe at that time.

According to http://wiki.x.org/wiki/BodMeetingSummaries-09-26-2006 there
seems to be 500usd set aside for this.

Since you're already around, what will this money be used for?

> Handouts and X.Org stickers were printed and distributed. Some parts of my 
> travel were also covered last year, as I recall.
 
I see. Handouts being the renowned X.org foundation flyer.

> >> 
> >> To what extent do you feel does attending linuxworld benefit X.org the 
> >> foundation and X.org the developers and community, compared to other X 
> >> events?
> 
> I believe I answered this in a prior email response. But if its cost is low 
> -- by any measure --- and the activity is consistent with our charter (see 
> the ByLaws) I see no reason not to participate. What is there to compare? To 
> my knowledge no X events requesting funding have been denied. Developer 
> events tend not to have corporate decision makers present. It is important 
> to educate them to the nature of the tools underlying the technologies they 
> are using and evaluating. 

So you feel that developer meetings are not as important as tradeshows?

> I hope you will continue to organize events and ask for funding when 
> necessary.

Oh I will, especially since I still have some non-perishables in a 
sealed box marked X.org for the next fosdem.

To once again answer the question you asked me at linuxtag: yes, 
X at Fosdem2006 was very much worth it.

With considerable help from fd.o at the students cafe, X at FOSDEM managed 
to spread the same 500usd budget to pretty much feeding 15-20 Xorg 
developers over most of FOSDEM and the preceding hothouse. This because 
this money only went to food (and napkins, way too shabby plastic cups 
and nametags), with the singular objective of bringing X developers 
together.

The HotHouse was kindly provided by the informatics club of the 
university (thanks to X-Chat hacker Guillaume Desmottes), the DevRoom 
was provided by the FOSDEM organisers.

X at FOSDEM2006 of course didn't measure up to XDC, where Stuart Kreitman 
was able to tap the corporate might of Sun, but it was a small amount of 
money going a long way.

I must admit that i took a rather undemocratic share of the X.org money 
for fosdem: the mix of beverages bought wasn't ideal: as a result i 
uncharacteristically had orange juice with my breakfast for a week or 
two. Ooh, the sacrifices i've made ... :p

Luc Verhaegen.