[marketing-dev] Re: Why TDF should be the place for one united Community

Thanks, Florian for the long message :-)
But, can I request that we have such advocations (not sure that's a word) p=
resented in a more neutral space? My reasoning, besides the obvious, that t=
his is OOo-land, has to do with simply having a suitable forum for what is =
likely to be a protracted and contentious discussion, and that sort of thin=
g calls out for neutrality.

I also tend to think that having focused and if possible in-person meetings=
 is immensely helpful.


Louis


On 2011-05-25, at 08:03 , Florian Effenberger wrote:

> Hello everyone,
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> I have not been subscribed to this list for months, but due to Louis' rec=
ent Cc, I was made aware of the discussion going on -- so, as a representan=
t of TDF, but also as someone for whom personally the community means a lot=
, let me say a few words.
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> I indeed see the current situation as an ideal basis for uniting things. =
The diversity the Community is in now doesn't help anyone. If you now think=
 we, TDF, are happy and get satisfaction out of the current situation, you =
are terribly wrong. Even if we expected something like that to happen, our =
intention was to safeguard the project from this eventuality, not to profit=
 from it.
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> We all have similar goals: a free office suite, available to everyone. So=
 let's not discuss about the past, about what has happened and about the re=
asons that led to this, but rather focus on the future.
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> I want to openly repeat our invitation to everyone to join The Document F=
oundation and the LibreOffice Community. Why do I think that we are the rig=
ht place to continue the work?
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> In yesterday's blog post, we summed up where we stand, and reading it wil=
l help to understand the current situation:
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> http://blog.documentfoundation.org/2011/05/24/updates-on-the-foundation/
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> 1. We are vendor neutral. I am sorry that I have to object to Louis' stat=
ement of us being a proxy for Microsoft -- nothing can be further from the =
truth. I must confess, that by statements like these, I feel even personall=
y insulted. I spend many hours per day on a pure volunteer basis, and if an=
yone can point on those of my doings that are proxying for Microsoft, I wou=
ld be interested to hear them. Otherwise, I'll ask to stop spreading those =
wrong assumptions -- as they are simply that: wrong.
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> 2. We have a strong legal backing, not only by the German nonprofit "Frei=
es Office Deutschland e.V.", but also by the Software in the Public Interes=
t (SPI), and we are on track with establishing the Foundation as a legal en=
tity. Even right now, we have all options needed for dealing with legal asp=
ects, accepting and spending money. We already can and do maintain trademar=
ks, brands and other assets.
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> 3. We have an independent infrastructure that works and is not controlled=
 by nor depends on a single entity. In addition, as we are not using a fixe=
d web framework, we are very flexible in what we do.
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> 4. We have not only gained a lot of momentum, but also a strong developer=
 base of more than 200 volunteers, amongst them 40 who contribute on a very=
 regular basis. Yes, of course, any contribution corporations with paid dev=
elopers do are highly welcome and help a lot -- but already right now, we a=
re in a status where we could drive the project without them, if the worst =
case would occur. This is something we never managed to achieve in ten year=
s' of OpenOffice.org.
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> When I first read the Oracle announcement from April, talking about an in=
dependent, noncommercial entity, my first thoughts were -- and still are --=
 "this is exactly what TDF is doing". I have seen proposals of setting up a=
nother foundation, or moving to an existing foundation that is not TDF. Hon=
estly, this does not make very much sense to me. It would again lead to a d=
iversity, would require many efforts, and would continue to irritate the ma=
rket at large.
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> Why reinvent the wheel? OpenOffice.org is already very special in many of=
 its processes. Having it under the umbrella of another, existing entity, w=
ould require lots of changes to fit in there. TDF has, from the very beginn=
ing, been shaped as a new entity with processes that fit to what we have ac=
complished the last years. We changed things that didn't work, and improved=
 things that do work -- isn't this the best basis to build on? Let's not wa=
ste energy in once again trying to fit under an umbrella, but rather work j=
ointly together on our future.
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> I am not saying that TDF does everything right and 100% perfect. We are g=
iving our best, and I think we do a fairly good job. I've seen comments tha=
t TDF is missing big corporate support, and that the whole ecosystem is at =
risk. Again, I consider this terribly wrong. Of course, we would love to ha=
ve much more support from corporations already, but building this up needs =
time, requires trust and confidence, and after all, support is growing rapi=
dly. If anyone thinks by setting up a new foundation or by doing a few phon=
e calls you can get big corporate support, I must say that almost sounds de=
lusionary. And does it really make sense that in the future, two entities w=
ill try that out? Wouldn't it be much better to speak united, with one voic=
e?
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> In my letter of resignation last October (http://www.mail-archive.com/dev=
@marketing.openoffice.org/msg11691.html), I've said that I am looking forwa=
rd to talking again about options to cooperate. I feel that time has come n=
ow.
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> So, I would be really interested of what actually prevents from cooperati=
ng with TDF, and uniting once again. Are there any valid reasons? Let's lea=
ve out what happened in the past -- a lot of bad words have been said, but =
digging into that does not help.
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> What compelling reasons are there to not work together again, in one Comm=
unity?
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> TDF is there, TDF is open, and to me, it would be the ideal home of a uni=
ted Community. The decision about that requires no leader, but you, anyone =
of you, can make it on your own.
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> Our future can be bright. Let's make it together.
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> Florian
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> --=20
> Florian Effenberger <[email protected]>
> Steering Committee and Founding Member of The Document Foundation
> Tel: +49 8341 99660880 | Mobile: +49 151 14424108
> Skype: floeff | Twitter/Identi.ca: @floeff
> --=20
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