Hi Greg,<br>I do agree with your view, and I do know that I won't achieve anything alone or even with a small group of interested people...<br><br>So, ok, let's discuss it... To active contributors in LG projects :<br> - Do you find this LGA project useful, and why ?<br>- How would it be useful for you on a daily basis ?<br>- Said simply : Do you need a LGA, or is it a waste of time and energy in your point of view ?<br><br>I'm convinced for myself (IMO, it's useful in a range of situations), but as Greg said, we don't want to find ourselves int he desert with an empty tank...<br> <br>Please go on and comment !<br>-- yagraph<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">2010/6/5 Gregory Pittman <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:gpittman@iglou.com">gpittman@iglou.com</a>></span><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;"> <div class="im">On 06/05/2010 04:19 AM, Camille Bissuel wrote:<br> <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;"> So everyone agree with all this goals ?<br> I don't believe it !<br> <br> There's another point to discuss too : when to start each goals ?<br> Louis have suggested to start a network and to wait to be ready to set up any founding, which sound wise.<br> </blockquote></div> I don't have any objections to these various proposals, but as we say in the US, it's hard to be against something that sounds like "Mom and apple pie."<br> <br> Having been involved with a local group that began a nonprofit organization (this one for increasing awareness of stroke), we rather painstaking went through such a process of creating a charter, filing the appropriate papers, and eventually cranking it through the governmental approval process, and then found ourselves with a real organization having some really good ideas about what we wanted to do in the form of where we saw ourselves in the future, recognized as a source for various information, awash with the money that would surely come flowing in, which we would carefully dole out for a variety of worthy reasons.<br> <br> But then real reality hits, when you realize that all of this discussion, planning, and final agreements about the charter and so forth are the easiest part.<br> <br> As I mentioned in the BOF, we should also begin thinking about how it is that LGA justifies its existence. First and foremost, do we know that the major and minor projects think LGA is good for them? How? What would they see an LGA accomplishing that they can't do themselves? How are they willing to support LGA? Would LGA perhaps be some kind of threat to them? It's problematic if they might only see LGA as a source of money, but otherwise want to be left alone.<br> <br> And what would users appreciate about LGA? Especially considering that users are a large silent unseen body of people out there, this could be difficult to ascertain.<br> <br> Finally, what about donors? Donors who are constantly approached for donations, who must choose where to spread out those donations that they do make. There will be a certain amount of no-brainer donating that will come from many sources in small amounts, but clearly we have to seek out and satisfy the potential large donors, not just because of the amount of money they might donate, but more importantly the magnifying effect this would have. There is a reputation and attention that comes from getting a major donation from a Google, or who knows, maybe even an Oracle or Adobe. Smaller donors use these as cues that someone with the resources has vetted this organization and found it worthy. Likewise, getting smaller donations from well-respected open source foundations can be very valuable.<br> <br> You may think that this is too early to think about these issues, but if you don't you may find yourselves out in the desert with an empty tank before you realize it.<div><div></div><div class="h5"><br> <br> Greg<br> <br> _______________________________________________<br> CREATE mailing list<br> <a href="mailto:CREATE@lists.freedesktop.org" target="_blank">CREATE@lists.freedesktop.org</a><br> <a href="http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/create" target="_blank">http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/create</a><br> </div></div></blockquote></div><br>