FWIW, I got written approval from Branding. On 4/14/14 7:46 PM, "Paul Hastings" <paul.hasti...@gmail.com> wrote:
>On 4/15/2014 4:19 AM, Alex Harui wrote: >> I got a nod of approval from the Apache VP of Branding (need official >> written ok) to try to get the Apache Flex logo on the 360|Flex shirts. >> Does anybody have any objections to this? > >speaking of which, any chance of getting apache flex swag on here? > >http://www.apache.org/foundation/buy_stuff.html >http://www.cafepress.com/meepzor/230676 > >i'd think the thong would be a big seller ;-) This is actually a great lead-in to a discussion about the economics of Flex. (Disclaimer: this is not an official Adobe statement, just my personal opinion. And yes, I know I am in a position of luxury in this "economy" so my perspective would be warped). Warning, this is long. Any swag requires money to manufacture or print it. Apache provides free open-source software and is a non-profit but also requires money to make it run. In the "old days", the SDK was free and Adobe was generating revenue from consulting and Flash Builder sales. Today, the SDK is still free, but the ASF doesn't sell other stuff to pay for the cost of hosting Flex source code and web sites. Adobe used to take some of its revenue and sponsor events like 360|Flex. This made it possible for the event organizer to keep the price down and provide things like videos for free and still have a place to live and food to eat. Adobe is spending serious money on Apache in the sense that it pays for not only the salaries of several committers on Flex and other Apache projects, but also for support staff like the legal team that helps out with the donation process, and even sponsored a reception at ApacheCon, but sponsoring Flex-only conferences is no longer a priority. So, the economics have to change. Some of you are employed by companies that have saved significant time and money by using Flex. Some of you are independent consultants who are hopefully at least surviving and longing for days past when Flex gigs were more plentiful. My goal is to do what I can to try to increase demand for Flex mostly via FlexJS. And while the SDK is always going to be free, if you or your company can identify some extra cash due to Flex/FlexJS saving you or your company money, you might want to think about donating some of it to Apache. I just saw something on an Apache-wide mailing list that Apache Open Office users are donating enough to make it worth mentioning. Of course, I'd also love to have companies donate developer time as well. But there still is some cost to being at Apache and at some point, we should not just rely on bigger donors to pay for us. And there is a similar need for a change in the economics for the 360|Flex conference. It will likely continue to be the only Flex-only conference and one of the few times you can discuss things with me in person. If you can't attend, and just want to watch the session videos, you might want to donate some money to the conference organizer to help offset his costs. It is in the community's interest to have some sort of conference so we can get together at least once a year and have higher bandwidth discussions. And hopefully, 360|Flex will be the place you will someday want to speak at to show off whatever Flex-related thing you've been working on. To continue to motivate the conference organizer to host these conferences, it is best to actually attend. This year, I'm only doing one session on FlexJS so I should have time to discuss it or any other Flex thing before or after. If you need to justify the cost to your manager, not only will you learn about FlexJS and how it might protect your current investment in Flex, but I am going to reserve some time slots for folks to sign up to have me try to help them with whatever nasty Flex problem you might have. Yes, there will be sessions about performance and memory optimizations, but you still have to figure out how to apply those tools to your particular situation. In these time slots, you bring your laptop with your code on it and I'll try to help you. I'm hoping other Apache Flex committers who are going will also offer time slots as some of them have more experience with mobile apps than I do. So, to tie all this back to swag (and thongs?), if you think it will benefit the community of Flex and/or the ASF, feel free to put your own money into it, or start taking up a collection. Adobe used to do some things like this for "fun" and to add to the buzz, but they knew/hoped that it would increase revenue. The ASF cannot do that. But you can. Thanks for reading, -Alex
