On Tue, 2004-04-13 at 16:33, Corey Shields wrote:
> the NFP is to solve a long time issue of the constant rumors that the
> managers are going to run off with Gentoo and turn it into a profitable
> business.  a "Not For Profit" would prevent that (as the name suggests).

While I don't believe that the managers really could *run off* with
Gentoo in practice, I think a NFP would be beneficial.  Many times I
hear of how Gentoo is "owned by Daniel" from people who are not very
familiar with Gentoo.  I have even been asked "What keeps Daniel from
simply taking everything you've done and firing you, keeping the money
for himself?"

Many people don't understand exactly how Gentoo works.  Perception is a
very big thing in the IT world, much more so than we sometimes want it
to be.  Having a NFP essentially says, there's a body that governs the
general direction of Gentoo and is accountable to the Gentoo community.

> This problem seems to be a much bigger problem as the lack of funding..
> ~ because, although a lot of people aren't as vocal as others, many
> people want to leave if this is not done.  whereas they will continue to
> stick around without funding much like they do now.

I because a developer for Gentoo because I like to play games on Linux. 
I have a job.  I don't expect to make money from Gentoo.  Even if we
were to get paid, it wouldn't be livable by most standards.  This is
supposed to be fun, guys.  Having a governing body to take care of the
boring non-development stuff like funding for making commercial-quality
CDs for our users and resolving disputes is a great idea.  Having one
that is classified as a NFP is even better, as it keeps everyone honest
since there's not a fortune to be made following that route.  Greed can
kill a good thing quicker than anything.  We definitely do not want to
fall victim to that.

-- 
Chris Gianelloni
Developer, Gentoo Linux
Games Team

Is your power animal a penguin?