[haiku-development] Haiku Inc. and Haiku (was: AboutSystem window credits)
- From: "Jorge Mare" <kokitomare@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: haiku-development@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2008 13:08:39 -0700
On Sun, Aug 31, 2008 at 12:43 AM, André Braga <meianoite@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> On Sun, Aug 31, 2008 at 00:00, Urias McCullough <umccullough@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> I apologize that I didn't read the whole novel ;)
>
> Doh :)
>
>> - but I wanted to clarify something that I believe needs to be clarified
>> here (I think
>> it's a common misconception).
>
> Actually, there was no misconception on my part; you've just hit the
> nail in the head when you said:
>
>> That doesn't mean Haiku, Inc. is useless of course, and it can grow to
>> provide even more for the project in the future I think.
>
> There! *That's* what I meant. That we could use Haiku, Inc to help
> separate the roles of development and decision-making *in a public
> relations standpoint*, even though the people behind those roles are
> likely to be the same. And that this is not something for the future;
> we should do it *now*.
>
> In other words: code-wise, I feel that we're in great hands, no
> questions about it; it's just that people-wise we're both wasting the
> developers talent forcing them to deal with politics when they don't
> want to, and wasting non-developers talent not providing them the
> proper means, structure and communication channels, to help the
> project the way they're able, and want, to. And that Haiku, Inc could
> be a good tool to provide this structure.
>
> Are we lacking volunteers to make this happen? This is not me
> complaining or demanding anything while not having the marbles to put
> my money where my mouth is. Actually, I don't know if I have what it
> takes to deal with those things, but I always wanted to dedicate more
> of my time to the project as soon as I sort ou the mess that is my
> life :)
I tend to agree with Urias that there may be a lot of misconceptions
about what Haiku Inc. is and is not, so let me try to put it into
perspective.
Haiku Inc. is NOT to the Haiku project what the Gnome Foundation is to
Gnome or KDE e.V. to the KDE Project. The main reason for this is that
the Haiku devs choose not be involved in the non-profit (I don't blame
them) and have put almost every *key* aspect of Haiku under their own
control (I don't blame them for this either). This reduces Haiku Inc.
to a very limited role that has no influence in the vision and/or
future direction of the project.
IMO, the resulting irrelevance of Haiku Inc. at the higher level of
the project leadership makes it very unattractive to be involved in
the non-profit, as it mostly means boring paperwork and legal
responsibilities.
Also because Haiku Inc. is not part of the group that sets direction
or provides a vision for the project as a whole, even those areas
where it can contribute (say, funding), it kind of operates in a
vacuum and disconnected from the key decision-makers, making it all
more disjointed and thus difficult to use the non-profit as an
effective tool.
I think this is the way it is because the admins/devs were used to
(and most probably still prefer) the arrangement that they had with
Michael Phipps (implied or by design), where he ran the non-profit all
alone and provided the link between Haiku Inc. and the leadership. But
since Michael left the project, this arrangement cannot obviously
work. The transition was supposed to address this by engaging more
people, including some at the project leadership level so that Haiku
Inc. could become part of that leadership. It turns out, though, that
we have struggled in the sense that most of the weight fell onto one
or two individuals, and the idea of a synergistic approach with the
project leaders to elevate the profile of Haiku Inc. has not worked
either.
At this point I am out of ideas, and very low on energy and
motivation. Recently Urias M. has offered to step up and become part
of Haiku Inc. in an attempt to move it forward. I know Urias well and
have done quite a bit of Haiku-related stuff with him together (most
notable the recent LinuxWorld); I think we make a good team, and I
could cooperate. But personally I remain skeptical as to whether it is
worth for me to make the effort if Haiku Inc. is going to remain in
isolation from the project leadership and irrelevant as it relates to
the direction and/or vision of the project. I don't see that happening
without the Haiku devs becoming involved, and knowing that this is
very unlikely to ocurr, I see no way out.
Sorry for the negative tone of this message, but I just felt the urge
to let people know the way things are, at least the way I see them. Of
course, others that are/were involved in the transition team may have
a different view and/or opinion, and they are welcome to give their
views if they so wish.
Jorge
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