Your general problem isn't unique, and the solution isn't either. I wouldn't want to address this large problem using the contents of a post response on/. . Find a proven method for fixing this sort of situation that you can rapidly read and follow. Rather than writing out the various steps, grab a copy of the Visible Ops e-book (or some similar one), read it in a few hours (its short), and start addressing your environment chapter by chapter. With a documented plan of attack that has been used by many, getting management support should be trivial and you can hit the ground running fast.
Completely apart from the discussion of what happened and what the consequences are, you should be aware that membership in a not-for-profit organization does not provide you with any legal protection whatsoever.
John,
Although I am no lawyer either, there are plenty of people who seem to agree with my point. Check out the following URL's which say that so long as I am not being paid and I am not working outside of my job description and what I do isn't done with malice or with the intent to harm, then I cannot be held liable. This comes from the Federal Volunteer Protection Act signed by President Clinton in 1997. Here are some URLs to info: http://www.njnonprofits.org/vol_pr otect_act.html
I forgot to add this into my original response... The resignation should not be a reason to cause any FUD. I and I believe the others still have intentions of working on Free Software and Open Source software for the time being.
We all left for different reasons. One person cannot speak for us all in such a letter and that is why it was written in such a manner to say why we all left (in a manner agreeable to all of us) and yet give some idea as to what happened. If you want an individual's specific reason you would have to contact them.
I feel pretty certain I can speak for the others on this issue. No, that is not a reason why any departed. The name change was done a while ago to Stampede GNU/Linux but many know it as Stampede Linux however the non-profit entity is known as the Stampede Linux Foundation. So there are many ways to look at it and decide if you want to refer to it as GNU/Linux or just Linux. The organization itself is not GNU/Linux but the distribution name is. Kind of a messy subject for most but it has been cleared up.
First, I would like to point people at a copy of the unedited e-mail that was sent out by Jacob Moorman on behalf of myself and the other 21 developers and supporters of Stampede GNU/Linux. A copy of it can be found here. A copy of Matt Wood's response to (what I presume to be from/.) an e-mail message to him can be found here.
"Stampede developers past and present are invited to contribute their insight into what caused the rift." As stated in the resignation letter the reason why we left is based on the current administration model of Stampede GNU/Linux. I cannot comment for others beyond that as they all have different feelings and reasons which make them feel the way they do. So the rest of this comment is from my point of view and my feelings. Despite how it may be worded.
For one to be involved in such a project you expect several things. Some of them are legal protection, financial support and a say in how decisions are made. Each one of those issues will be addressed separately in the following:
Legal Protection: Being involved in an Operating System distribution there are concerns that your advice to persons on IRC and elsewhere could damage someones data or files. Although never the goal, it does happen and is inevitable. The user types in the command wrong or misinterperates the advice or suggestion given. I have a brain fart and am not thinking straight and miss a step. . . These are just a few examples of what could happen.
I am not 100% certain about my legal protections if a user damages their system while following my advice. The Stampede Linux Foundation is indeed a Non-Profit Organization in Utah, but I was never shown any proof that it was a Federally recognized non-profit (I believe the technical name is 401-C3 status). Thus I have no legal blanket protecting me from a lawsuit. Although I am a poor college student and they would not get much from doing so (besides a few computers... which would hinder my Free Software development projects) it is still not something I want to see happen to myself or others.
Financial Support: Being so involved in the Stampede GNU/Linux Distribution and other efforts I have been traveling to the Linux World COnference and Expo's in both NYC and SJC (the past 2 anyways) and was also at The Bazaar. My trip to The Bazaar was partially funded by Earthweb, but my trips to LWCE were not funded by anyone but me.
The issue of funding trips for core developers had come up and was never addressed. It is in my opinion that at least some of the cost should have been deferred off onto the distribution. Stampede does have some money (not a lot but enough to do that a few times for several people). Also being the college student I am there is only so much money to go around. I get a lot out of meeting those who use what I work on. I also learn a lot about up-and-coming projects from other groups.
Although I see nothing wrong with the development model we used for a long time for other groups, it did not work for ours. The above issues and others could have been easily resolved in what would seem to be a more 'fair' manner if there was a group of individuals who could vote on such issues.
On April 6 Rob Aagaard attempted to switch Stampede over to a Board of Directors from its current model. Matt Wood was disagreeable to doing such and I didn't like his response. Not to mention the fact that he refused to be at the meeting. This is not to say that I agree with the manner the meeting was conducted, but Matt should have been present to diffuse the situation and discuss the issues with us openly like he says he will. At any rate this situation led me to believe that there would be no change and that action must be taken. Voila, the resignation.
Although I was not the developer to say "Business is Business, Friendship is Friendship", those sentiments are mine exactly. And even more than that I will continue development on tools, utilities and new specifications for which Stampede was working only under a different group which aims towards supporting my efforts. The Marble Horse Free Software Group (MHFSG) is working on a new revision of the Stampede Linux Package format, specifically version 5a. Not to mention a few other projects I am working on. The projects are less Stampede centric as they should be useful to all distributions and homebrewed systems alike. None-the-less Stampede is free to use them and their input will be regarded at the same level as others.
Lastly I would like to thank Stampede for the good times I had with them. I have no hard feelings and would like to continue a good relationship with the people involved. Those who need to contact me know where to find me (IRC: openprojects.net NICK: khemicals).
Slashdot Mirror
Your general problem isn't unique, and the solution isn't either. I wouldn't want to address this large problem using the contents of a post response on /. . Find a proven method for fixing this sort of situation that you can rapidly read and follow. Rather than writing out the various steps, grab a copy of the Visible Ops e-book (or some similar one), read it in a few hours (its short), and start addressing your environment chapter by chapter. With a documented plan of attack that has been used by many, getting management support should be trivial and you can hit the ground running fast.
http://www.itpi.org/?page=Visible_Ops
John,
Although I am no lawyer either, there are plenty of people who seem to agree with my point. Check out the following URL's which say that so long as I am not being paid and I am not working outside of my job description and what I do isn't done with malice or with the intent to harm, then I cannot be held liable. This comes from the Federal Volunteer Protection Act signed by President Clinton in 1997. Here are some URLs to info:
L iability.html
http://www.njnonprofits.org/vol_pr otect_act.html
http://www.ptialaska.net/~jdewitt/vlh/Law/VLHTort
http://www.nonprofitlaw.com/quicktipsv ol.htm
--David Burley
I forgot to add this into my original response... The resignation should not be a reason to cause any FUD. I and I believe the others still have intentions of working on Free Software and Open Source software for the time being.
We all left for different reasons. One person cannot speak for us all in such a letter and that is why it was written in such a manner to say why we all left (in a manner agreeable to all of us) and yet give some idea as to what happened. If you want an individual's specific reason you would have to contact them.
I feel pretty certain I can speak for the others on this issue. No, that is not a reason why any departed. The name change was done a while ago to Stampede GNU/Linux but many know it as Stampede Linux however the non-profit entity is known as the Stampede Linux Foundation. So there are many ways to look at it and decide if you want to refer to it as GNU/Linux or just Linux. The organization itself is not GNU/Linux but the distribution name is. Kind of a messy subject for most but it has been cleared up.
"Stampede developers past and present are invited to contribute their insight into what caused the rift." As stated in the resignation letter the reason why we left is based on the current administration model of Stampede GNU/Linux. I cannot comment for others beyond that as they all have different feelings and reasons which make them feel the way they do. So the rest of this comment is from my point of view and my feelings. Despite how it may be worded.
For one to be involved in such a project you expect several things. Some of them are legal protection, financial support and a say in how decisions are made. Each one of those issues will be addressed separately in the following:
Legal Protection: Being involved in an Operating System distribution there are concerns that your advice to persons on IRC and elsewhere could damage someones data or files. Although never the goal, it does happen and is inevitable. The user types in the command wrong or misinterperates the advice or suggestion given. I have a brain fart and am not thinking straight and miss a step. . . These are just a few examples of what could happen.
I am not 100% certain about my legal protections if a user damages their system while following my advice. The Stampede Linux Foundation is indeed a Non-Profit Organization in Utah, but I was never shown any proof that it was a Federally recognized non-profit (I believe the technical name is 401-C3 status). Thus I have no legal blanket protecting me from a lawsuit. Although I am a poor college student and they would not get much from doing so (besides a few computers... which would hinder my Free Software development projects) it is still not something I want to see happen to myself or others.
Financial Support: Being so involved in the Stampede GNU/Linux Distribution and other efforts I have been traveling to the Linux World COnference and Expo's in both NYC and SJC (the past 2 anyways) and was also at The Bazaar. My trip to The Bazaar was partially funded by Earthweb, but my trips to LWCE were not funded by anyone but me.
The issue of funding trips for core developers had come up and was never addressed. It is in my opinion that at least some of the cost should have been deferred off onto the distribution. Stampede does have some money (not a lot but enough to do that a few times for several people). Also being the college student I am there is only so much money to go around. I get a lot out of meeting those who use what I work on. I also learn a lot about up-and-coming projects from other groups.
Although I see nothing wrong with the development model we used for a long time for other groups, it did not work for ours. The above issues and others could have been easily resolved in what would seem to be a more 'fair' manner if there was a group of individuals who could vote on such issues.
On April 6 Rob Aagaard attempted to switch Stampede over to a Board of Directors from its current model. Matt Wood was disagreeable to doing such and I didn't like his response. Not to mention the fact that he refused to be at the meeting. This is not to say that I agree with the manner the meeting was conducted, but Matt should have been present to diffuse the situation and discuss the issues with us openly like he says he will. At any rate this situation led me to believe that there would be no change and that action must be taken. Voila, the resignation.
Although I was not the developer to say "Business is Business, Friendship is Friendship", those sentiments are mine exactly. And even more than that I will continue development on tools, utilities and new specifications for which Stampede was working only under a different group which aims towards supporting my efforts. The Marble Horse Free Software Group (MHFSG) is working on a new revision of the Stampede Linux Package format, specifically version 5a. Not to mention a few other projects I am working on. The projects are less Stampede centric as they should be useful to all distributions and homebrewed systems alike. None-the-less Stampede is free to use them and their input will be regarded at the same level as others.
Lastly I would like to thank Stampede for the good times I had with them. I have no hard feelings and would like to continue a good relationship with the people involved. Those who need to contact me know where to find me (IRC: openprojects.net NICK: khemicals).
Regards,
David Burley
former Stampede jack-of-all-trades
Hmmmm....
nit picky little comment from one who never makes comments....
mortal combat is not a game... but Mortal Kombat is.