On 8/27/20 10:11 PM, Dale wrote:
james wrote:
Gentoo,
https://blogs.gentoo.org/mgorny/2020/08/25/is-an-umbrella-organization-a-good-choice-for-gentoo/
Surely some of the business/legal savvy folks want to "chime in" on
Sir Gorny's proposal?
I just read this on 'hacker news'
It just sounds like mostly a lack of fund raising to operate?
James
There's several issues that lead to this.� For ages, the financial books
were not kept up to date.� From what I recall, some paperwork was lost
which made it difficult to impossible to do the needed IRS filings.
Things on that part seemed to snowball from there.� In the past few
years or so, that has been dealt with and from what I've read, it is now
up to date and they are trying to get back in good standing with the IRS
and other Govt entities.� I think I read where most of the hard work as
already been done, just needs time to kick in.� It isn't hard to get
into that situation, it just takes one year with a mistake to trigger
bad things.� It takes a lot of work to get it cleared up tho.� All of us
should be grateful to the ones who put in the hard work to get that
taken care of.� I'm sure it took a lot of effort and time to get that
done.� I'm sure it was boring as heck to do as well.� Some of us would
likely have no hair left.
Another issue, not many want to run the foundation.� The devs mostly
want to write code.� They aren't to much interested in running the
foundation part of it.� A few do because it is needed and they do their
best, some even go far beyond that, but they really want to write code.
That's what developers came to Gentoo for after all. Since there is two
different bodies that run Gentoo in different ways, it further reduces
the number of people wanting to do the job.� The foundation part is from
my understanding, bureaucratic paperwork.� Who wants to do that for
free?� There's not many. Basically, if you run for a position on the
foundation, it's good odds you get it because usually just enough run to
fill the open spots.� I often wonder, do they draw straws to pick people
to run just so things keep chugging along??� LOL
Then there is the costs.� It costs to deal with all the paperwork and
filings.� There's state filings as well as federal.� Missing either of
those can cause trouble for the other and also get expensive and time
consuming to correct.� Again, very few want to deal with it.� The few
that do likely do it because Gentoo needs it not because they are
jumping up and down wanting to do it.� It's what keeps Gentoo going.
It's cheaper to join some other group like has been talked about for
years and let them take a percentage of the money and them as
professionals handle all that nasty paperwork and filings.
My personal opinion.� I'm still leaning to keep Gentoo as it is but I'm
not the one doing all the boring work either.� My concern, Gentoo joins
some group and it ends badly for Gentoo.� Maybe they screw up something
and that puts Gentoo and maybe everyone else in the group in jeopardy
with govt entities or lawsuits.� On the other hand, if Gentoo doesn't
have the right people, they could do the same thing to themselves.� The
people who do run for those seats do try their best even if something
goes wrong.� Thing is, it doesn't take much to run afoul of govt
entities or trigger a lawsuit. Gentoo has been lucky in that regard.
There is no easy answer to this.� Either way has advantages.� Same can
be said for disadvantages as well.
I'm sure there is more that isn't known to the public and I'm sure some
things are escaping my mind at the moment.� Either way, whatever keeps
Gentoo going and successful, that is what needs to be done.� Since I
don't have a crystal ball, I'm not sure which is best long term.
Now someone add more to this.� ;-)
Dale
:-)� :-)
The referenced article says this:
"Right now we�re already relying on a CPA to handle our filings. For a
commercial company (we are one now), the cost is $1500 a year."
Seems way too high. I pay $500/yr for a C corp here in Florida; a firm
that that is "outstanding" with the US IRS.
"If we wanted to go for proper non-profit, the estimated cost is between
$2000 and $3000 a year."
Still seems way to high. With Gentoo, we can use Any state, so why not
move the home to a low cost state?
Many corps use Delaware, just for that reason.
"If we were to pass full accounting to an external company, the rough
estimate I�ve been given by Trustees is $2400. So once our volunteer
bookkeeper retires, we�re talking of around $4000 + larger taxes for a
corporation, or $4500 to $5500 + very little taxes for a non-profit."
Again, these numbers are WAY TOO HIGH. Shop around!
Many states are way less expensive.
Ok so ask why don't I volunteer? I've been using gentoo, since 2002. I
have made many enemies, because of my views on the whole "install"
abortion. WE could easily help another loosely coupled, gentoo
derivative distro
create a robust, easy install system, whilst leaving "Gentoo Proper" as
an enclave for the brilliant.
It there were agreement to that sort "diatribe", enthusiastically, THEN
I could help the trustee situation, and help bring in lots of cash to
pay devs for what every reason the technical leaders decide.
CoreOS, gentoo-install (Mike Mol), CloverOS, and dozens and dozens (over
the years) have solved this problem, bot did not receive any love or
praise from the Gentoo devs......
So, if Gentoo wants money, as a charity, it is so simple, it hurts. BUT
a few things have to change (non-negotiable)!
I've done this too many times with dozens of folks. ALL are
multi-millionaires. MONEY is easy, but it does come with strings
(actually very few for something like gentoo). The current situation is
pathetic and easy to fix. Be warned, when it comes to money, and I am on
the responsibility chain, I tend to be a bit dictatorial. Once the money
starts flowing in, I'd look to hand things off to a much younger techie,
so he(she) can build there resume and I can drift back into oblivion,
in a cabin, in the woods.......
For me, it just breaks my heart to see Gentoo needed to have one of our
(currently) awesome coders have to "prostrate" himself publicly like
this. But, if a broken system/leadership is broken, then that is the
sign things need to change. This has been a recurring situation, for 2
decades now. Just look around, most other distros have so much 'action'
going on, they are rolling in cabbage.
Perhaps the Gentoo council members ought to engage the gentoo-user list,
directly? Surely others would have solution, very viable, to what I have
proposed?
The second thing I'd do, if on the council, is have a direct program for
High School age kids to use Gentoo to become entrepreneurs. That's
right, how to form a C-corp, write some codes and start receiving funds
directly into their C-corp. Minimum goal? Self Funding for Secondary
education. Learn Business via gentoo, and coding "from the masters" aka
gentoo devs.
There are tons of methods for young entrepreneurs to access funding and
grants, if you "get your house in order". For that, it means a simple
Rasp. Pi. 4 sourcecode install? The microprocessor companies would line
up to build boards, for these kids. EASY as PIE!
Be Bold and Be Bad_ass, if you want to live and prosper in this day and age.
painfully,
James
