The Ubuntu Foundation

[Benj. Mako Hill]

I'm going to let Mark or Jane set this straight because I'm not sure
anybody else really can but I thought I would respond in brief with my
understanding of the situation. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

<quote who="Hidde Brugmans" date="Tue, Feb 14, 2006 at 06:31:25PM +0100">
> On 2005-07-08 Canonical Ltd. announced the Ubuntu Foundation[1], which
> was founded on 2005-07-01.
> 
> This press release is aimed at ensuring the community that Ubuntu 6.04
> will remain supported  for five years on the server, three years on the
> desktop, and that no matter what will happen to Canonical, Ubuntu will
> survive.
> 
> I applaud this step, but I wonder why we haven't heard from the Ubuntu
> Foundation since.

The foundation, as I understand it, is a pile of money that exists to
ensure/endow Ubuntu's future. The idea is that if Mark were to be
struck by a bus, be bought out by Microsoft, or just decide he doesn't
like free software anymore, the Ubuntu Foundation would be a big pile
of money whose only goals is to ensure that Ubuntu could be supported
well into the forseeable future. The money is not meant to be spent
today and the organization is not meant to be "active." It's basically
insurance.

The one thing the foundation can or does do is take donations and then
spend those on the project under the direction of the current Ubuntu
team who is mostly working for Canonical. Donating to a for-profit
company like Canonical always seemed a little bit weird.

> To my best knowledge there is no website[2][3], has been no further
> press release, and no community-visible activity by the Foundation.

I'm not sure a further press release or more activity is really
warrented. A webpage on the Ubuntu site explaining the situation would
definitely be nice and I'll echo your call for this. I'd even be happy
to help write it. :)

> That said, I feel that for Ubuntu to be truly open, it has to be
> supported publicly by a not-for-profit foundation with the goals
> that we have set for Ubuntu.

This was never the idea behind the foundation. The idea was to provide
a non-profit that could do this if Canonical ever stopped.

> The bottom line is that Canonical has no public accountability for it's
> actions and policies in any way towards the community.

<snip>

> The Ubuntu website states the public commitment[4] by the team
> behind Ubuntu that Ubuntu will always be free of charge, the GPL
> ensures the code will always remain Free. This promise alone is not
> sufficient.

These promises are made by Canonical and the rest of the Ubuntu
team. We could, and will with time, make other promises in similar
ways but the accountability of both Canonical and Ubuntu will
ultimately be to the organizations' boards of directors.

For example, I am an associate member of the FSF but I cannot vote on
leadership. The FSF is only accountable to its own board of
directors. This is typicals of other non-profits and is the case with
both Canonical and TUF as well. These boards could change or just
change their mind. Mark and the others in Canonical and Ubuntu may
change or change their minds as well. That's a risk that we all take
but the idea of the board seems to be to offset the problems or shifts
that can befall any single person.

Regards,
Mako

-- 
Benjamin Mako Hill
mako at ubuntu.com
http://mako.cc

Creativity can be a social contribution, but only in so
far as society is free to use the results. --RMS