Some of you have noticed that I did not attempt to renew my position in SPI. I don't want anyone to take this the wrong way so I'm dropping a line to annouce my position and intentions.
I'm still 100% with Debian. I haven't given up on the idea that a community operating system can give the proprietary boys hell. I'm still using Debian as the base for my business and I don't see that changing in the near future. What I am giving up on, for the time being, is changing the attitudes and lack of process in SPI. Those words hurt and some people will take issue with them. That's fine. I'm a big boy and I'm ready to go to bat. I found it completely impossible to push SPI in a credible and useful direction. Anyone who thinks I didn't try hard enough has a flame war with their name on it. Come and get it. I'm a professional. I deliver value for significant organizations every day and I do it with Free Software. I haven't made a place for myself as some sort of "community spokesman" and I have no intention to. I'm just another guy, like you, who is trying to make it day by day running a business. Like you, I want to see Free Software succeed for the most basic reasons. I use it. I depend on it. It has to succeed so that I can succeed along with it. I don't have the ability or personaility to make a difference in SPI. Maybe it is personal politics or a misguided mission. I'm not sure. I tried, and tried as hard as I could, to make a difference. I failed. I was able to inform a few of our donors about our inability to process their checks. I was able to bring our lack of professionalism to your attention. That wasn't enough. I was not able to make a lasting change. The culture and status quo stood in my way of making a difference. It's not over. We have some great new faces coming on board. Bdale is a completely solid guy who has a sterling reputation with a strong and moral corporation of significance. I hold some real hope that he will be able to inact a change. Branden is also a good guy with a lot of heart. Sometimes his actions don't measure up to his words (and I'll take that straight to the mat with you Branden) but I have no doubt that he wants to do good. We need to watch SPI closely and hold a strong rule to its actions. I question SPI's integrity. It has become a paper crown that people wear to prop themselves up. It lacks muscle and dedication. I have the stripes to pull that card. I will and I do. Hopefully that can change. Debian is more important than SPI and every Debianer needs to watch in the coming months to take their measure of whether SPI is helping us achieve our goals or holding us back . If change cannot be affected from within SPI then we should do whatever it takes to move the project forward. None of this is meant to cast a dark cloud on those who tried to make SPI work. If the experiment is deemed a failure then it is a failure of approach and technique but not of spirit. We will debug the code and the system will operate. One way or another, one day or another. Faithfully yours in happy hacking, ~Ean ps. I would like to thank Wichert Ackerman for the fine work he has done with SPI's web infrastructure. He may not have always responded to my email but he has done more than anyone else to make SPI presentable on-line. -- Ean Schuessler, CTO Brainfood, Inc. http://www.brainfood.com
