To the Cocoon Community The involvement of commercial entities in an open source project can help tremendously with its success. If we look at the Linux OS, the Apache web server or other important open source projects, we often can see a mixed model where business and open source go side by side.
In the past, the commercial side of Cocoon has been slightly "in the dark". Some community members were known to be commercial entities, but in general, their commercial side has been intentionally kept low profile. We believe that this can be especially a disadvantage when it comes to enticing new companies into the world of Cocoon - they might fear that there is no support nor additional tools which will help them to build sustainable operations based on our beloved Cocoon project. In addition, we are perceiving an increasing need for additional Cocoon services such as training or consulting. At the previous GetTogether, the undersigned started a loose discussion on forming some sort of business alliance with the aim of being an umbrella under which commercial entities could discuss business perspectives, share resources or work together on new Cocoon related topics. The undersigned were able to join in open discussion (although being competitors) because we felt that the business model laid out in the Cluetrain manifesto was a "Good Thing" when it comes to defining business in the Internet age. Also, as much as we care about our own businesses, we have been working inside this wonderful Cocoon community for a long time and care a great deal about its sustained development, both community- and technology-wise. These discussions resulted in a consortium of 6 European companies, whose names are well familiar to the Cocoon community, joining forces to accelerate the corporate adoption of Cocoon by offering a shared vision of support and services. The name of the consortium is Orixo and the website is at http://www.orixo.com We feel very strong about the fact that an open source-related business initiative should have a particular emphasis on giving back to the community. The undersigned are all active members of the Cocoon project, and we hope that our joined efforts will continue to be beneficial for the entire Cocoon community. With regards to our involvement in the Cocoon project, business remains as usual. Signed Anyware Technologies Luminas Otego Outerthought Pro-netics S&N AG --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
