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Josh et al:<br>
<br>
Cloudscaling agrees that we need an open dialog about the formation
of the foundation. Save the one open meetup during CloudConnect in
early February I am unaware of any other open discussions.<br>
<br>
Please read <br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.cloudscaling.com/blog/cloud-computing/open-communities-deserve-open-communication/">http://www.cloudscaling.com/blog/cloud-computing/open-communities-deserve-open-communication/</a><br>
<br>
Bill Franklin<br>
VP of Engineering<br>
Cloudscaling<br>
<br>
<br>
On 3/9/12 11:38 AM, Joshua McKenty wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:46F062CD480D478F8199ABA533A6B36F@pistoncloud.com"
type="cite">
<div>
<div>
<div>I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a diplomatic
person. When we were launching OpenStack, this was a bit of
an advantage (if we had waited for permission before
releasing the Nova source code, we'd still be waiting) - but
since the first summit, the community has grown so quickly,
and become so diverse, that I have tried to leave
discussions of governance, foundation structure, dispute
resolution, and most particularly monetary corporate
contributions, to others with more... tact.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>But now I feel I have no choice but to speak up; I'm
deeply concerned. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The biggest, splashiest openstack stories of the past two
years have all had the names of huge, multi-national
corporations in them - names like IBM, AT&T, Dell, HP,
and CISCO. And while their participation has been
tremendously positive for the project (with Quantum and
Crowbar standing as examples of this), I see things trending
in a direction that makes me nervous for the smaller players
- for the startups who will live or die on the strength of
the OpenStack project. Like Piston Cloud.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The current official proposal for the foundation creates
a new class of super-members - with a sticker price of $2.5M
(due up front) that puts it out of reach of all but a small
handful of organizations. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>This is not a new idea - it was the first structural
proposal for the foundation that I heard from the organizing
team, and I have argued against it (at times seemingly
successfully) continuously since last fall.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I understand why it is appealing; it creates a small and
manageable board of directors, with a large pool of
resources, who shouldn't have too much trouble guiding and
directing the outcomes of OpenStack. But it's not a
structure that represents or embodies the principles that
OpenStack was founded upon, and I think that while it may
offer some short-term benefits, it may be damaging to the
long-term health of the project because it strangles the
ecosystem of contributing companies we've worked so hard to
create. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>The "right" structure is a much harder thing to organize:</div>
<div> - It recognizes and requires project contribution (code,
tests, docs, bugs and evangelism) along with cash</div>
<div> - It has a single class of corporate member, a level
playing field</div>
<div> - It has room for non-corporate members in the
meaningful governance bodies (not tucked away in 'advisory'
boards)</div>
<div> - It aggressively and publicly resolves the
conflict-of-interest between the 'company hat' and the
'project hat'</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>My understanding of the key challenges of this foundation
board are the following:</div>
<div> - Keep it small enough to be manageable (21 directors or
less)</div>
<div> - Supply enough funding to carry on with most of the
current project support activities</div>
<div> - Ensure representation of the diversity of the
OpenStack community</div>
<div> - Provide a mechanism for "industry luminaries" as well
as OpenStack users and consumers to provide input and
feedback</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The target budget of the Foundation is around $3M per
year. Without getting into a discussion about whether that's
reasonable or not, I'd like to brainstorm how we could reach
that goal in a way that better reflects our goals for an
open and democratic community. How's this for a proposal:</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div> - One class of corporate member</div>
<div> - Provide reasonable evidence of 2 FTE (full time
equivalents) working on OpenStack in some capacity</div>
<div> - Commit to 2 years of sponsorship, on an evergreen
basis, but paid annually</div>
<div> - Individual members, if there are any, cannot be
employed by a corporate member</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>My rough calculation, having a reasonably good grasp of
the interests and level of engagement of the various
corporations in the OpenStack ecosystem, is that we could
expect around 15 of the 150 companies involved to meet these
requirements. $3M divided by 15 = $200,000. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>It's a high playing field, but at least it's a level one.
It doesn't change the structure or composition of the
technical committee, and it doesn't limit the ability of the
foundation to raise money in other ways (sell sponsorships
for events, charge admission for conferences, even license
the use of the trademark for training or certification). </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>If we have a simple pay-to-play model, then we can trust
market economics and enforce transparency of spending. If we
have a simple "meritocracy", then we can expect the most
skilled and dedicated to rise to the top, provided we're
extremely careful about how we measure skill and dedication.
If we blend the two, I'm deeply concerned that we'll see the
worst of both systems play out over time - the selfishness
of market-driven economics dominating our decisions with the
petulant moralism of the meritocracy. Hoping for any other
outcome is, in my opinion, foolish optimism. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>At the core of OpenStack is the idea that a single
project could address the needs of ALL of our organizations
- large, small, producers, consumers, non-profits and tool
makers. We need to guard that vision, and protect it from
our best intentions. No one in the community, whether
individual contributor or corporate sponsor, can claim to
speak for (or even understand the perspective of) the
majority of us. We're simply too numerous, and too diverse.
If you believe, as I do, that *your* company should have a
stake in OpenStack's future, then now is the time to speak
up in favor of the level playing field we originally set out
to create. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
</div>
<div>With (attempted) diplomacy,</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Joshua</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<div>
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<div style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
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-webkit-line-break: after-white-space; font-size: 13px; ">Joshua
McKenty</div>
<span style="font-size: 13px; ">Co-Founder, OpenStack</span>
<div style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
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normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal;
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0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space;
-webkit-line-break: after-white-space; font-size: 13px; ">CEO, Piston
Cloud Computing, Inc.</div>
<div style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
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normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal;
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0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space;
-webkit-line-break: after-white-space; font-size: 13px; ">w:
(650) 24-CLOUD</div>
<div style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
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0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space;
-webkit-line-break: after-white-space; font-size: 13px; ">m:
(650) 283-6846<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.pistoncloud.com" style="color: rgb(0,
106, 227); ">http://www.pistoncloud.com</a><br>
</div>
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</div>
<div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space;
-webkit-line-break: after-white-space; font-size: 13px; ">"Oh,
Westley, we'll never survive!"<br>
"Nonsense. You're only saying that because no one ever
has."</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
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