There have been questions about the transition of OpenNTF to it's new structure, I will try to explain the background and intent of this new initiative.
I have been running this site alone for a couple of years now and although the site 'worked' for a lot of people, I had concerns about the continuity of the site. I felt that I needed feedback from 'the industry' since improving the Notes & Domino community and the market was the main reason for founding OpenNTF.
This led to the formation of the 'Advisory Board' in 2007, a board intended to provide feedback and advise on the direction OpenNTF should take.
Another issue was that as an independent entrepreneur I did not have the resources to improve the site and its content to the level I would like to see. Teaming-up with other organizations seemed the best way to provide these resources.
At the same time IBM was looking for a place to publish their example code, since the Sandbox was being shut down. They wanted exposure for their projects and participation of the Notes & Domino community to improve/extend their code examples.
Obviously OpenNTF was on their radar and they started publishing projects on OpenNTF, for example the composite application directory.
Steve and Niklas of IBM contacted me in December and proposed that we convert OpenNTF into a real non-profit organization. The new organization would be led by a committee and IBM would supply the resources for the conversion and a long overdue site update plus provide support for OpenNTF over a longer period.
They would not take over the site, the site would be run by the committee and IBM would get only one seat, the rest of the committee would consist of people/organizations from the community.
This was exactly what I was looking for, a site run by the community, with resources and guaranteed continuity.
And so it was agreed upon, a new OpenNTF for the Notes & Domino community, by the community with a little help from IBM.
I am convinced this is a good thing for OpenNTF, the community and IBM, but as with all changes there are some drawbacks.
Things like the employers approval for contributors and the Apache license requirement for new projects. There are good (legal) reasons for these formalities, but they will make it a lot harder for people to contribute.
We (the steering committee) are well aware of these issues and we will try to ease the pain as much as possible.
Constructive criticism is always welcome, but please give us a chance to get this new site up and running, before condemning the new alliance.
Although the committee is not currently accepting new members (we need to clear a lot of legal stuff before the alliance is formally founded), you can apply for membership in some time and have a say in any issues concerning the site and the alliance.
I have been running this site alone for a couple of years now and although the site 'worked' for a lot of people, I had concerns about the continuity of the site. I felt that I needed feedback from 'the industry' since improving the Notes & Domino community and the market was the main reason for founding OpenNTF.
This led to the formation of the 'Advisory Board' in 2007, a board intended to provide feedback and advise on the direction OpenNTF should take.
Another issue was that as an independent entrepreneur I did not have the resources to improve the site and its content to the level I would like to see. Teaming-up with other organizations seemed the best way to provide these resources.
At the same time IBM was looking for a place to publish their example code, since the Sandbox was being shut down. They wanted exposure for their projects and participation of the Notes & Domino community to improve/extend their code examples.
Obviously OpenNTF was on their radar and they started publishing projects on OpenNTF, for example the composite application directory.
Steve and Niklas of IBM contacted me in December and proposed that we convert OpenNTF into a real non-profit organization. The new organization would be led by a committee and IBM would supply the resources for the conversion and a long overdue site update plus provide support for OpenNTF over a longer period.
They would not take over the site, the site would be run by the committee and IBM would get only one seat, the rest of the committee would consist of people/organizations from the community.
This was exactly what I was looking for, a site run by the community, with resources and guaranteed continuity.
And so it was agreed upon, a new OpenNTF for the Notes & Domino community, by the community with a little help from IBM.
I am convinced this is a good thing for OpenNTF, the community and IBM, but as with all changes there are some drawbacks.
Things like the employers approval for contributors and the Apache license requirement for new projects. There are good (legal) reasons for these formalities, but they will make it a lot harder for people to contribute.
We (the steering committee) are well aware of these issues and we will try to ease the pain as much as possible.
Constructive criticism is always welcome, but please give us a chance to get this new site up and running, before condemning the new alliance.
Although the committee is not currently accepting new members (we need to clear a lot of legal stuff before the alliance is formally founded), you can apply for membership in some time and have a say in any issues concerning the site and the alliance.