[Consortium] Greetings, thanks, LAC report, and other important stuff...

[Andrea Glorioso]

Dear Ivica, dear all,

some quick  considerations.  I more or less  agree on all the points I
don't discuss, but   I  reserve the   right to read  such  points more
carefully in the future (and disagree after that :).

>>>>> "Ivica" == Ivica Ico Bukvic <ico at fuse.net> writes:

    > Consider     forming the  foundation    in   a country  that  is
    > Linux-friendly (i.e.  no volatile  patent support etc.)  -- this
    > may  not be that relevant,   though. I would actually appreciate
    > some thoughts on this point.

Currently,  any country in  the European Union should  be ok from this
point of view, *but* -  as you are all  very  well aware - this  might
change anytime soon, if a very large majority against software patents
doesn't build up  in the European  Parliament.  Currently the European
Patent Office   is  granting patents on    software (albeit  masked as
technical devices) but  it is  quite  questionable that  such activity
would stand in court,    when  confronted with the   European   Patent
Convention.

India, Brasil, Chile and Venezuela, as far  as I know, have taken very
clear positions *against* software  patents, but I don't know anything
about creating consortiums/foundations in those countries.

In general,  although   I agree this   is a  very   important point, I
wouldn't consider it a major criterion for choosing the place where to
establish  the foundation.  I  would   rather go   for a place   where
bureaucracy is minimal and where  at least one member  of the Board is
resident.

    > 7) Generate consortium's logo *Necessary for letterheads, media
    > exposure, etc.  *Encourages consistency.  *Would be available in
    > several sub-flavors for use by members as well as commercial
    > vendors (with appropriate licensing fee): a) "Made in GNU/Linux"
    > would be for projects which have been developed primarily on
    > Linux platform, b) logo without the aforementioned statement
    > would be for others.  *The use of the logo by members would be
    > encouraged but not mandated.  *The placement of logo (on the
    > website or inside the application) would be left to project
    > developer's discretion.

I  am  not sure whether  this logo  would constitute any  kind of mark
(trademark, service mark, certification mark,  whatever).  Is that the
case?

    > 8) Strengthen ties with other open-source foundations (i.e. FSF)
    > *Ability to rely upon legal and other forms of help when
    > necessary

I have very  good contacts  with  the Italian chapter  of FSF*E* (Free
Software Foundation Europe) which was a  partner of the AGNULA project
during the  EC-funded lifetime, and still  is the owner  of the AGNULA
trademark.  However, I would suggest:

(a) *never* call the FSF or the FSFE an "open source" foundation, lest
    you want the FS-SWAT team to wake you up in the night and bring
    you to the nearest re-education center (just joking! :);

(b) the not-so-clear-cut stance of the Linux Audio Consortium on Free
    v Proprietary software makes the whole thing less palatable for
    FSF(E), although I'm quite sure that cooperation on specific
    strategic goals is absolutely possible;

I volunteer to help building any kind of relationship with FSFE what
might be desiderable, if people here think I'm the right person to do
it.

Ciao,

--
Andrea Glorioso             sama at miu-ft.org         +39 333 820 5723
        .:: Media Innovation Unit - Firenze Tecnologia ::.
	      Conquering the world for fun and profit
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