On Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 06:01:19PM +0200, Henri Bergius wrote:
On Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 5:39 PM, Reinhard Mueller mueller@fsfeurope.org wrote:
I believe that this will be a significant project for FSFE nevertheless: While the Fellows might do the rating, we still need to do the technical infrastructure, the communication, the coordination, the publicity work, and possibly some quality control of the input, and we need to do that in a long time frame.
I would recommend to check whether we have the free resources available before we start this.
Most definitely. The crowdsourced CertifiedOpen database could have a huge impact on the business around free software (including all the Linux-based phones, TVs, whatever), but only if it contains accurate and relevant information. This will at least require some systems administration and content moderation.
I agree that the project will require effort to pull off, if we decide to do it. We will need to keep pushing it continuously, put in effort to moderate and motivate, and check the quality. Checking whether we have to the necessary resources is of course an important step in the decision process.
That's the cost side.
The benefit side is that FSFE will stand out as a knowledge center. The project would also increase our interaction with technology companies, and would provide some real value to the community.
I know that we've discussed similar projects before on a number of occasions. What's different this time is that thanks to the crowdsourcing approach, the project looks ambitious but possible.
I suggest that when Christian is back from his honeymoon, I will ask him to come up with a basic plan (including resource considerations) that we can use as a basis for discussion on whether we want to go ahead with this or not.
Best regards, Karsten