Xfce Foundation status

[Jon]

On Thursday 14 October 2010 21:56:21 Jannis Pohlmann wrote:
> > "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.".

Yes, that would not be a problem. We could not name it e. g. Xfce GmbH e. V. 
as "GmbH" is a proper legal form in Germany. "Foundation" however, is not.

> 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.

Good point. Also, if the e. V. has to be abandoned maybe something is 
seriously wrong in the world of Free Software as such.
 
> But of course, so does the FSF. It seems favored by most people here so
> far, at least I can see a tendency. ;)

Still, this would be my favourite, too. :)
 
> > 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.

Right. You could announce the space-time coordinates for the foundation in 
advance anyway. So, maybe some users could make it to the event and we have 
"ordinary people" only as a backup.

Also, even if there is no big party, the founders could go to a kneipe 
afterwards and have at least a little celebration beer or something. :)

Best wishes

Jon