Xfce Foundation status

[Jannis Pohlmann]

On Thu, 14 Oct 2010 19:35:13 +0200
Christian Dywan <christian at twotoasts.de> wrote:

> >   * Would you prefer "Xfce e.V." or "Xfce Foundation e.V." to be the
> >     name of the organization?
> 
> When talking about the name, it should be "Xfce" or "Xfce Foundation",
> shouldn't it? Outside of formal contexts you wouldn't mention the
> "e.V." and usually not in spoken conversation either. So I think that
> already makes "Xfce" unattractive.
> 
> "Foundation" also seems to be quite common as part of the name
> regardless of the concrete legal entity, so it probably is a good
> choice as long as there is no German law preventing that.

I'm pretty sure there's no such law. The LXDE Foundation is a German
e.V. as well. And yes, in informal contexts one can leave out the
"e.V.".

> >   * There is one clause about where the raised money should go in
> > case the e.V. is abandoned. The KDE people have decided to forward
> > all their money to UNESCO. I have come up with a few alternatives.
> >     Which of the following organizations would you prefer the money
> > to be handed over to in case the e.V. is closed?
> > 
> >       UNESCO, Amnesty International, Greenpeace, WWF or OLPC?
> 
> While I would hope this won't be relevant in the near future,
> intuitively I would think GNOME Foundation or FSFE makes more sense
> than something "random" and unrelated.

The main signal picking something unrelated to software sends out to
the world is that we don't just care about software but we also have a
bigger picture in mind from which the entire humanity will benefit.

But of course, so does the FSF. It seems favored by most people here so
far, at least I can see a tendency. ;)

> > The founding process itself involves a formal meeting in real life
> > with at least 7 persons attending. As it seems unrealistic to
> > organize such a meeting with Xfce-only people from all around the
> > world before the end of the year, I propose that I organize this
> > meeting in Lübeck, gathering a few local Xfce users or friends.
> > During this meeting they would sign a resolution that says the
> > board of directors will be re-elected shortly after the e.V. has
> > been registered. In this re-election we can then establish people
> > more deeply involved in Xfce as board members. (And we would of
> > course decide not to take money from e.V. members, so anyone can
> > become part of the whole thing.)
> 
> I think that sounds like a good plan to keep the initial effort low.
> Would probably be preferrable to have actual Xfce users there rather
> than random participants.

True, but again, it doesn't really matter. Of course I'd prefer a
founding event with a big party and every single one of us attending.
What's more important though is that we get this thing started at some
point and I doubt Xfce will benefit less if the non-profit organization
is created by "random" people. At least as long as we quickly get Xfce
people involved after the official registration.

  - Jannis
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