On 10/14/2014 12:10 PM, Don Armstrong wrote:
On Tue, 14 Oct 2014, Marty wrote:
It seems like free software employment and market share come with
increasing risk to objectivity and technical quality.
People have to eat. Almost everyone who works on Debian has someone who
pays them.
It's my main concern as a Debian user, as I consider recent trends.
It really shouldn't be. The biggest concern that I have is getting new
contributors into Debian and keeping existing contributors from burning
out. Companies paying people to work on Debian is one way of getting
more contributors and keeping existing contributors happy.
I hope that Debian members consider an amendment to restrict voting
rights for members who have a financial interest in Debian or in any
project used by Debian, to promote and protect the public interest.
Everyone who contributes to Debian has an interest in what the project
does, whether or not its financial. There's a reason why we're
contributing, after all.
People who are in positions of power in Debian are relatively open about
what those interests are and who their employers are. But expecting
people not to vote or participate just because they happen to be paid to
work on Debian isn't healthy or sustainable.
I am only concerned about the ethics of it. As an "outsider" I can't
speak about the practicality or sustainability of a voting restriction,
but I think such codes are commonplace in nonprofits.
In any case I too have a concern about the long-term sustainability of
Debian, but as a volunteer organization. If it's not an issue now in
Debian, it almost certainly will be in the future. This illustrates a
part of my concern:
http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/software/whos-writing-linux
Say hello to our new bosses?
That said, if despite my counter-arguments, this is something you feel
strongly about, find a DD who agrees with you, write up a constitutional
amendment, and get it proposed on -vote or discussed -project.
It's not on topic here.
Thanks, I'll consider that.
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