Skip to content

Latest commit

 

History

History
188 lines (161 loc) · 8.98 KB

SoftwareFreedomConservancy.md

File metadata and controls

188 lines (161 loc) · 8.98 KB
Raw

Profile: SoftwareFreedomConservancy

Authors

Rationale

We picked this because of the ranking system. Our team had most up to date blog posts so we picked SFC.

Organizational Details

  • Is the subject of your profile a corporate entity?
    • No, its a not-for-profit organization 1
  • What type?
    • Not-for-profit 501(c)(3) 1
  • When was it founded?
    • 2006 1
  • By whom?
    • Karen Sandler (Executive Director) 1
    • Bradley M. Kuhn (President) 1
  • Original founder(s) still active?
    • yes, see 3
  • Publicly Traded? Since when? Initial Stock Price? Current stock price?
    • No 7
  • Has the company made any acquisitions? If yes, which companies, and what were their core products?
    • No
  • Has the company made any investments in other companies? If yes, which ones.
    • No
  • Number of Employees?
    • 6 board members, 4 paid employees 1
  • Where is HQ?
    • Online
  • Does it have any other offices or locations?
    • All over the world
  • Website?
  • Wikipedia?
  • Does your organization file any annual reports? Please include links to any relevant documents (i.e. 990, Annual Report, Year in Review, etc...)

Communications

Social media for COMPANY

  • Does your subject participate in social media?
  • If yes, please list a URL for each account, and reach within that community.
  • Example: - Twitter: @Conservancy - 710 Followers.

Communications channels for COMPANY

  • What communication channels does your subject use to reach their public?
  • Briefly describe and include a URL for each. - IRC: conservancy - NY Address - Phone: info@sfconservancy.org

COMPANY Conference Participation

  • Does your subject organize or participate in any conferences?
  • If so, list them here, and provide links to any relevant sessions, keynotes, or content. -N/A

Community Architecture

Your subject likely runs or contributes to one or more Open Source products or projects. Choose one (or more) of these and answer the following questions:

  • If applicable, list and provide links to: - The project's IRC Channel - freenode conservancy - Source Code repository - N/A - Mail list archive - info@sfconservancy.org - Documentation - N/A - Other communication channels - N/A - Project Website and/or Blog - Blog

  • Describe the software project, its purpose and goals.

    • The Software Freedom Conservancy is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to promote, improve, develop, and defend Free, Libre, and FLOSS projects. They aim to provide a home and infrastructure for FLOSS projects and allow developers to focus more on developing. 1

  • Give brief history of the project. When was the Initial Commit? The latest commit?

    • Conservancy was established in 2006 and started coordinating with the BusyBox in 2007. In 2015, Conservancy announced they were funding litigation by Christoph Hellwig against VMWare for copyright violation in an ESXi product.

  • Who approves patches? How many people?

    • Conservancy is a legal team and supports FLOSS projects legally, but not in terms of patching.

  • Who has commit access, or has had patches accepted? How many total?

    • No one controls commit access - not applicable

  • Has there been any turnover in the Core Team? (i.e. has the top 20% of contributors stayed the same over time? If not, how has it changed?)

    • The current team of directors includes: Jeremy Allison, Peter T. Brown, Mark Galassi, Bradley M. Kuhn, Mike Linksvayer, Martin Michlmayr, Stormy Peters, and Karen Sandler. The current list of project members of the Software Freedom Conservancy are: 1
      • ArgoUML
      • Bongo
      • Boost
      • Buildbot
      • BusyBox
      • Darcs
      • Evergreen
      • Foresight Linux
      • Gevent
      • Git
      • GPL Compliance Project for Linux Developers
      • Inkscape
      • Kallithea
      • K-3D
      • Kohana
      • Libbraille
      • LuxRender
      • Mercurial
      • Metalink
      • OpenChange
      • OpenTripPlanner
      • phpMyAdmin
      • PyPy
      • SWIG
      • Samba
      • Selenium
      • Squeak
      • Sugar Labs
      • SurveyOS
      • Twisted
      • Wine
      • uClibc

  • Does the project have a BDFL, or Lead Developer? (BDFL == Benevolent Dictator for Life)

    • The president of the Conservancy is Bradley M. Kuhn, and the executive director is Karen Sandler. 1

  • Are the front and back end developers the same people? What is the proportion of each?

    • N/A

  • What have been some of the major bugs/problems/issues that have arisen during development? Who is responsible for quality control and bug repair?

    • For major lawsuits see “Future and Law”

  • How is the project's participation trending and why?

    • The Conservancy appears to be popular amongst larger FLOSS projects who need the legal side of Open Source dealt with.

  • In your opinion, does the project pass "The Raptor Test?" (i.e. Would the project survive if the BDFL, or most active contributor were eaten by a Velociraptor?) Why or why not?

    • Seeing that there is a group of directors, the Conservancy would very likely pass the Raptor test.

  • In your opinion, would the project survive if the core team, or most active 20% of contributors, were hit by a bus? Why or why not?

    • The Conservancy would take a big hit if they lost their directors due to a bus accident, but seeing as the backing members are mostly heavily invested large FLOSS projects, the members would probably see that the Conservancy was restored with new lawyers.

  • Does the project have an official "on-boarding" process in place? (new contributor guides, quickstarts, communication leads who focus specifically on newbies, etc...)

    • Each application for a partner project are handled on a case by case basis. To become part of it you would have to reach out to them.

  • Does the project have Documentation available? Is it extensive? Does it include code examples?

  • If you were going to contribute to this project, but ran into trouble or hit blockers, who would you contact, and how?

  • Based on these answers, how would you describe the decision making structure/process of this group? Is it hierarchical, consensus building, ruled by a small group, barely contained chaos, or ruled by a single or pair of individuals?

  • Is this the kind of structure you would enjoy working in? Why, or why not?

    • The main decision makers are the board of directors. SFC can be considered as a lawyer group dedicated to helping open source projects.
    • Decisions ultimately are ruled by this small group, keeping the project owners stake in mind for the best interest of FOSS and the values it represents.

Technology/Product

Section adapted from EFF Worksheet

  • Who invented, created, or sponsored the technology?
    • Offers Legal Help
  • What is the technology designed to do? How is it used?
    • Lawyers get together to help Open Source projects
  • Who would benefit from using this technology?
    • Open Source Development Companies
  • What kinds of companies or organizations (stakeholders) might have been concerned about the development of this technology? Why?
    • Proprietary companies, patent trolls, people who hope to shut down FOSS projects because the Conservancy helps FOSS teams focus more on development rather than worry about legal protection.
  • Does/Did an aspect of copyright law play a role in controversies about the technology? How?
    • SFC has played important roles in several law suits.

Business and Revenue Model

  • How was this organization funded originally?
    • Funded by partner projects, donations, and settlements.
  • How does this organization make revenue?
    • Partner projects make up about 10% and all other revenue is through donations and settlements. The company is not-for-profit and seeks mainly to promote innovation and progress in FOSS projects.
  • Which specific Open Source Revenue Models are utilized?
    • The company is not-for-profit and survives off of donations and court cases, but an argument could be made for the Support Sellers model.
  • What investments/acquisitions has the organization made?
    • None