Lack of Connection Between Canonical and the Community

[Jono Bacon]

On 8 December 2014 at 09:28, Scott Kitterman <ubuntu at kitterman.com> wrote:
> From my point of view, the number one thing that Canonical could do to improve
> interest in external willingness to participate in the broader Ubuntu
> project's development efforts is to either get rid of the CLA or modify it so
> that it was offering the same rights to contributors that it was asking to
> receive from them.
>
> Since you've asked people not to dwell on the past, I won't rehash specifics,
> but it's been a significant source of friction and contributed to people's
> perception that Canonical is somehow not as friendly to free software as it
> should be.
>
> It's one issue that could be resolved with the stroke of a pen, no major
> investment needed.

I think a big piece of our evolution here is changing the mindset of
where control lives. Here you focus primarily on Canonical making
changes, but our community of non-Canonical people can do a huge
amount here too.

There is no doubt that the CLA has been controversial. No one is
denying that. Speaking personally, I also believe we have lost people
because of it and I too would prefer if Canonical would get rid of it.
My assumption here though is that this is unlikely to happen.

I think though that while the CLA lost us some pre-existing
contributors (primarily developers), I don't believe it significantly
stands in the way of attracting new people (particularly
non-developers). I believe it has been more of a headline than a
blocker to many new folks.

Scott, what do you feel we as a wider community could do to inspire
more participation? I would love to hear your ideas.

Thanks,

   Jono