On Thursday 23 April 2020 08:47:56 Michael wrote: > On Thursday 23 April 2020 09:32:36 am Dr. Nikolaus Klepp wrote: > > Anno domini 2020 Thu, 23 Apr 09:59:00 -0400 > > > > E. Liddell scripsit: > > > On Wed, 22 Apr 2020 21:46:20 -0500 > > > > > > Michael <mb_trinity_desktop@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > > Probably the best way with Tim 'owning' the non-profit. > > > > > > In theory, we should probably incorporate, but this introduces > > > accounting and tax-reporting requirements we haven't had to deal with > > > up to this point. Still, we should move away from any single person > > > being solely responsible for managing funds and resources—that's why we > > > have a problem in the first place. > > Unless Timothy (Tim?, what’s he like to be called by?) completely declines > he should be the titular head, even if he never does anything else with > TDE. Others elected/appointed can ‘do the work’ so to speak. Okay, my > opinion, otherwise it’d be insanely rude to Timothy :( > > > > There are likely to be advantages and > > > disadvantages to setting up in each jurisdiction. And the US is not a > > > single jurisdiction: each state is different. > > > > From my experience: US jurisdiction is something you should stay away as > > far you can. > > I’m a US citizen and I’d heavily recommend to not do [TDE-ORG] in the USA. > Rules and regulations are excessive and expensive to comply with. > > > > So, what would the money the Trinity Desktop Environment Project, Inc. > > > acquires be paid out for? > > > > > > -hosting > > > -having someone do the accounting and make required corporate reports > > > -publicity and outreach? > > > -salary for one or more full-time devs, if we were to grow that much? > > > -other? > > > > - Fond raising > > - PR work ... > > - Back pay? Figure out how much work has been done by who (number of > commits?), how much it’s worth, what a total for all of that would be, and > set aside [~25%?] of future donations to pay it off. > > As long as we all agree, pretty much anything. > > > > And sources of income would be . . . > > > > > > -donations > > > -sales of swag (shirts, coffee mugs, bumper stickers, mouse pads . . .) > > > -technical support of TDE in larger deployments, à la Red Hat? > > > -paid feature requests? > > > > - EU project funds > > - local project funds > > > > > And the next step would be research of the rules governing > > > not-for-profits in the jurisdictions of people actually willing to do > > > the *work* associated with ... > > > > I can only speak for the Austrian situation > > Done that already for :) statistically every Austrian is member of at > > least 2 associations. > > I’d suggest anyone interested in wanting to donate their time to doing the > paperwork/bookkeeping do what Nik did and outlined their local requirements > so we can talk it out and decide what/where makes the most sense for > [TDE-ORG]. The world is a pretty small place now, so unless someone has an > objection, anywhere that is cheap/easy seems ideal. > > # # # > > On a negative example note, the [TDE-ORG] bylaws/charter/TOS ‘stuff’ > probably needs a constraint so the project doesn’t do a ‘Drupal’ where the > Drupal Association literally dumped and ejected all the historical user > base in favor of the top corporate donors. Based on that, I’d personally > be somewhat against a ‘à la Red Hat’ model. * > > Best All, > Michael > > * Besides which I just had to build three CentOS 7 servers with systemd and > that thing is one piece of crap. So big middle finger to Red Hat for > shoving that down peoples’ throats. > I've been holding my tongue, out of respect for Slavek's wishes here. What is obvious is that we need some kind of sign from Timothy Pearson himself, concerning how we might proceed next. Otherwise, these are all pipe dreams. There is no doubt, with the all the talent and wide knowledge that I see on display here in the mailing list, with our connections round the globe, that we could make TDE into the top dog among desktops. I would like to keep it free/libre, GNU/Linux, and not see it get sold out or otherwise turn into a proprietary nightmare. (I suppose, if the code is declared free/libre now, then it would always be forked once again, if necessary, in order to preserve it, but it seems wiser to be able to build on all the work that has been done already.) Until we get that sign, however, it seems that we must wait here in a kind of limbo. Not to give up hope, though, I have polished my crystal ball, dusted off a pack of old tarot cards, and at this very moment I am searching for a virgin to sacrifice. Bill --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: trinity-users-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx For additional commands, e-mail: trinity-users-help@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Read list messages on the web archive: http://trinity-users.pearsoncomputing.net/ Please remember not to top-post: http://trinity.pearsoncomputing.net/mailing_lists/#top-posting
