[Consortium] Re: LinuxAudio.org and Salem Radio Labs

[Fred Gleason]

On Friday 23 January 2004 06:19, Daniel James wrote:

> My original aim was to eventually move beyond advocacy alone to
> include co-development projects and the like. Of course, that's up to
> the members.

And there's certainly no reason an "Advocacy Group" can't do those things as 
well.


> I wasn't aware of that - I hadn't heard of that usage in the UK. What
> you're describing would be called a 'partnership' here.

Interesting!  It's just the reverse here:  a "partnership" in this context 
(multiple companies working together) tends to imply a loose, informal 
alliance. UnitedLinux would be a good example of such a partnership.  
"Consortium", on the other hand, has a very "Corporate" sound to an American 
ear.  

So, what's a term that describes the essence, while having the same 
connotation to all English speakers?


> Lawyers, eh?

Such is the world we live in.  SRL is wholly funded by Salem Communications -- 
I cannot use their name without their approval.


> Personally, I think goodwill, trust and peer pressure are far more
> powerful than contracts. 

Amen!


> I suppose that when you sign a contract,
> you've already acknowledged that trust has failed to be established!

That's a common misperception, and one that I'd take issue with.  The *vast* 
majority of contractual agreements negotiated never wind up being the basis 
of a dispute.  The reason for this is that, properly approached, they are 
primarily a means of *communication* -- a way of setting out in a detailed 
and objective way just what is expected of each party, while ensuring that 
all parties are in agreement with those expectations.  As such, they serve to 
*reduce* the frequency of disputes.  I speak of the great majority of cases 
-- contracts can be abused, as can any other human invention.  I would argue 
that if you have no trust in another party, you should not be entering into a 
business relationship with them at all, contract or no.

Cheers!


|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Frederick F. Gleason, Jr. | Director of Broadcast Software Development  |
|                           |             Salem Radio Labs                |
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|       There's never time to do it right, but there's always time        |
|       to do it over.                                                    |
|                                         -- Meskimen's Law               |
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