[LGM] LGM and FOSS in 2014 - coming of age

[Gregory Pittman]

Happy New Year!

I would like to offer this email as a consideration of a mindset or
strategy for LGM in the future.

It's not a suggestion to abandon any of the cherished principles of
FOSS, but mainly some ideas about how to interact with the proprietary
or non-FOSS world out there.

In short, I think we should endeavor to embrace (figuratively) the
non-FOSS world out there. It's not going to go away, and its relative
success is largely out of our control. A starting point might be to make
sure we don't have some attitude that suggests "you're either with us or
against us." People don't have to either stick with their proprietary
software or switch to FOSS, they can use both -- some are compelled to.
Even within the FOSS world, things are Darwinian -- you succeed as long
as you give people what they want/need, and you can be replaced by some
other FOSS project that does a better job.

Thus, there is no taint on help, financial or otherwise, that comes from
some non-FOSS entity. But we accept help from whatever quarter, as we
accept any help, without any "deals" or contracts or preferences. We are
going to scrutinize any display of some corporate entity's identity to
ensure that it is not construed as an endorsement. Google, for example,
has done a lot for open source, but mainly has done a lot for Google.

A worst case scenario in 2014 might be for the NSA to approach us as a
sponsor (talk about looking the devil in the face!). Even then, let's be
realistic, we don't have anything someone can steal, we've already given
it away!

This isn't intended to apply to anything specific on the agenda right
now, but I mainly meant this as something to consider as we look for
resources, for help, for acknowledgment of what we do.

Greg