[Freedombox-discuss] Q & A: Kickstarter cash, scope of project

[James Vasile]

Thanks much for this.  Mind if I repost it and generally share it widely?

On Fri, 18 Feb 2011 13:06:38 -0800, J David Eisenberg <jdavid.eisenberg at gmail.com> wrote:
> The following is taken from the #freedombox IRC channel on 18 February
> 2011. The questions are from a number of people, and the answers are
> from sullivan. I have put it into question-and-answer format. The text
>  of the answers is exactly as in the channel, modulo a couple of
> spelling corrections, capitalization, and additional punctuation here
> and there for readability. Mr. Sullivan suggested that I post it to
> the list in order to "get it out beyond the IRC room and keep it
> available for next week's documentation and FAQ push"
> 
> Q: What is to be done with the kickstarter cash, and what is the scope
> of the freedombox project? Will the goal be to get freedombox
> prototypes produced and in the hands of lots of users, and would web
> services supporting the project, like anonymous hosting, be part of
> it?
> 
> A: There is hardware we can use in the form of the various plug
> computer and mesh routers out there, so "prototyping" isn't the goal
> in the traditional sense. And there are lots of individual software
> components we can build such a system from: dynamic DNS, tor, tahoe,
> name your favorite.
> 
> The biggest part of the work is getting a team together with solid
> integration and technical design skills so that we can start coming
> together on general design ideas and roadmaps. Coordinating that is
> the biggest role for the foundation at this step. But as we've all
> seen, there are so many different places to start and so many
> different angles, it is easy to get stymied and lose the initiative.
> So the kickstarter goal is to get the foundation enough resources to
> enable it to start filling that role.
> 
> Basically, we need some dedicated time from people and some support
> activity to help them out; so there is that technical team, the legal
> work overhead for doing things like building the foundation, some
> design and press, the usual.
> 
> Q: How would the funds help? Would you hire people to do those?
> 
> A: There are a lot of people who have expressed interest in the
> project, and even more firm commitments of time and effort, but it is
> too easy for all of that to keep in a holding pattern with everyone
> thinking that they will move after person X has moved or milestone X
> has been reached. If we can raise this funding, it will enable us to
> get some full time support and will shake up a lot of people who have
> been interested, but who are not yet convinced that now is the right
> time.
> 
> Q: What full time support would be enabled? Do you have anything
> particular in mind; do you know who you would hire?
> 
> A: I would highly recommend using another mechanism for encouraging
> technical contributions rather than paying a full-time person. I.e.,
> buying plug computers and sending them to developers who promise to
> work on the project. I think we're open to all kinds of ways to help
> out the development efforts. Everyone involved is firmly in the free
> software world, so we're not going to turn into a startup and suddenly
> think the only way to get work done is paying people to sit in
> expensive chairs :)
> 
> That was part of the reason for creating the central coordination and
> support organization, the foundation, as a non-profit (it is a
> Delaware non-profit now and we'll be applying for IRS recognition as
> soon as the paperwork is ready).
> 
> But, at the moment, everything that needs to get done to help with
> that coordination and support work has to be done by either Eben or
> myself in mostly spare time.
> 
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