the project is basically a not-for-profit public service as I see it
what if people and corporations could direct a portion of their tax
dollars towards the project to help support it and code developers and
documentation writers could write off their time at professional rates
as a donation to a tax deductible cause
marc fleury wrote:
>
> we move or we die
> we move or we die
> we move or we die
>
> marc
>
> |-----Original Message-----
> |From: Lionel Siau [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> |Sent: Friday, March 16, 2001 8:59 AM
> |To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; jBoss Developer
> |Subject: I don't think it is sustainable ->Re: [jboss-docs] Future of
> |group, Documentation
> |
> |
> |Hi Marc,
> |
> |I think the aim is great and in the right direction however, u don't have a
> |defensible business model (for the lack of a better term).
> |
> |If it is free in source, how are u going to prevent pple from printing for
> |themseleves on the site(jboss is for programmers who properably now how to
> |setup their printers...) and very soon, have pple putting up downloadable
> |versions they hacked from the html pages or just pirated off their license
> |cpy. Who are the pple who would buy a cpy of the manual? What are their
> |estimated numbers? Not many I'm afraid.
> |
> |Just my 2c.
> |
> |Lionel
> |
> |
> |Lionel
> |----- Original Message -----
> |From: "marc fleury" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> |To: "Jboss-Docs@Egroups. Com" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "jBoss
> |Developer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> |Sent: Friday, March 16, 2001 10:49 AM
> |Subject: [jboss-docs] Future of group, Documentation
> |
> |
> |> Hello folks,
> |>
> |> after much speculation, false alarms and rumors, I would like to
> |officially
> |> announce what we are planning to do with the new documentation.
> |>
> |> The board has been at it for the past 2 month almost, since it became
> |clear
> |> that JBoss needs to grow even more that documentation is lacking and that
> |> management of our growth requires some capital.
> |>
> |> For example it becomes clear that while our growth is still pretty much
> |> exponential, we need documentation, a good measure of QA, packaging and
> |> release management. These are better done with a small full time group.
> |>
> |> We want to achieve "professional" quality in all our aspects. That
> |includes
> |> things that normally open source groups don't do well, among others
> |> "documentation" and it is a small company in the making.
> |>
> |> One thing we would like to achieve very much is self sustainance, one
> |where
> |> the group of Open Source Programmers can generate enough of a revenue to
> |> keep the various aspects of the project running at a "professional"
> |quality
> |> grade.
> |>
> |> We (the board) have 2 requirement
> |> 1- Keep JBoss org "free". In fact JBoss is becoming an Open Source
> |> Jaugernaut all by itself, the reason? the distribution! it is quality it
> |is
> |> free! We are totally dedicated to our Open Source roots.
> |> 2- Generate revenue from within the group for and by developers,
> |the group
> |> of Open Source Programmers that we have could be a self sustaining
> |> structure. Structure the Open Source Programmers for profit.
> |>
> |> 2 is in constrast with RedHat that employs developers and Apache where
> |most
> |> jakarta guys are at SUN/IBM or do something else (brian
> |behlendorf). Java
> |> is a rich enough field that we can at least think about the
> |possibility of
> |> sustaining part of the developers through self generated revenues.
> |>
> |> So THE GOAL OF ALL THIS is to generate enough money that all the
> |developers
> |> have an incentive to work and some of us can grow the free base.
> |>
> |> How does it work while we keep it free?
> |>
> |> here goes:
> |>
> |> We are talking about the specific case of the documentation. Right now
> |the
> |> doco is really out of whack, there are parts that are out of date, plain
> |> wrong and generally speaking they aren't maintained.
> |>
> |> We are going to write the documentation in the famed user manual, pretty
> |> much from scratch reusing what we can and when we have permission. The
> |> result WILL BE FREE ONLINE. WILL BE FREE IN CVS.
> |>
> |> So all the documentation we produce will be available in cvs and on the
> |> website for you to use. What we will do is also offer "downloadable"
> |> versions for a moderate fee (we are thinking $10-$30).
> |>
> |> These version can be installed locally and even printed since one of the
> |> downloadable versions will be PDF. You can get it from CVS if you are
> |fancy
> |> enough, but we offer the for pay download for everyones convenience. It
> |is
> |> targeted at the "casual user" that doesn't want to go to CVS.
> |>
> |> The revenues go to the "GROUP OF OPEN SOURCE PROGRAMMERS" that wrote the
> |> documentation in the first place. The "GROUP OF JBOSS
> |PROGRAMMERS" shares
> |> the revenues depending on their contributions.
> |>
> |> This is "JBOSS GROUP" all of you that write doco are
> |automatically part of
> |> this "virtual company". There is a 30% cut that goes towards the
> |maintaince
> |> of JBoss org. The rest 70% is shared among authors.
> |>
> |> Is this clear? This is for documentation only. Do NOT EXTRAPOLATE to
> |> JBossServer itself. In fact the goal of all this is to keep JBoss.org
> |> development and management absolutely FREE. THIS IS DOCO ONLY.
> |>
> |> Write doco get paid.
> |>
> |> ANNOUNCEMENT:
> |>
> |> We are going to restart a professional grade documentation effort under
> |the
> |> "write doco get paid" program. It is co-written, available for free for
> |> browsing and in cvs and available for download from JBoss for a fee.
> |Profits
> |> are shared among writers, a 30% goes to running JBoss.
> |>
> |> Simple.
> |>
> |> So I will try to spend a couple of days really going in details of the
> |> status of the spec and getting you guys on board. Everything counts ,
> |> writing, infrastructure, XML Docbook maintainance, review, patches etc.
> |>
> |> FAQ:
> |>
> |> Q: Does the same apply to JBossServer? Do we offer it for $$
> |> A: No, in fact the goal is to keep JBossServer absolutely free while at
> |the
> |> same time achieving "professional quality" grade in our products.
> |> Professional Grade LGPL by financing a professional core.
> |>
> |> Q: What is JBoss Group?
> |> A: JBoss Group is a virtual company representing the Open Source
> |Programmers
> |> of JBoss. As revenues are shared among developers and
> |contributors, JBoss
> |> Group distributes these. JBoss Group is also an umbrella for marketing
> |more
> |> traditional services such as Training. JBoss Group is a for profit
> |company.
> |>
> |> Q: Who takes care of billing?
> |> A: We are investigating various venues, we will probably outsource the
> |> credit card handling to a 3rd party shortly. JBoss Group is the virtual
> |> company that aggregates the revenues and distributes to the members.
> |>
> |> Q: I am a developer/writer, how does this move affect me?
> |> A: If you are a developer you are free to not pay attention to this AT
> |ALL.
> |> It won't affect you in any way. You can however decide to write some
> |> documentation and bring it under the "write doco, get paid" program. The
> |> documentation you write, if integrated in the main manual, is then
> |marketed
> |> and distributed through JBoss' websites. It is also available for free
> |> online for browsing and in CVS just like it is today. Finally you profit
> |> share with us. In short, your life isn't changed at all, only now you
> |might
> |> get paid.
> |>
> |> Q: I am a user of JBoss technology, how does this move affect me?
> |> A: If you are a user, you will notice that this moves makes your life
> |> better. First and foremost the documentation will be up-to-date
> |since now
> |> developers have a monetary incentive to produce quality uptodate
> |> documentation, it is also edited and maintained in a professional grade
> |> manual. Better yet, it is available for free online and in cvs. By
> |popular
> |> demand we offer a pre-packaged version for you to download. This will be
> |> HTML and PDF.
> |>
> |> Q: I am a writer how do I participate?
> |> A: if you are a writer you have already been contacted for permission to
> |> include the documentation in the new manual. If you are a new
> |contributor
> |> please refer to jboss-docs for submittal of documentation bits.
> |>
> |> Q: How is the "profit sharing" decided?
> |> A: It is proportional to your contribution. This is a bit "subjective"
> |and
> |> not linked to "words" or "pages", but takes into account things as
> |disparate
> |> as "pure contributions" to "XML Docbook maintainance". The
> |board of JBoss
> |> will approve the percentage distribution every other month.
> |>
> |> Q: What is the price point you envision?
> |> A: $10-$30 for the end user documentation, $20-$40 for the developer
> |> documentation.
> |>
> |>
> |> PLgC
> |>
> |> Marc
> |> _________________
> |> Marc Fleury, Ph.D
> |> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> |> _________________
> |>
> |>
> |>
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