[Freedombox-discuss] Kickstarter's initial goal was reached

[Matt Willsher]

On 23 February 2011 19:22, James Vasile <james at hackervisions.org> wrote:
> On Wed, 23 Feb 2011 17:16:28 +0000, Matt Willsher <matt at monki.org.uk> wrote:

>> One key part is still missing for me. What is $500,000 for and what is
>> the justification for that figure? Some one must have come up with a
>> budget and 'business case'  and yet, if the Foundation is the be as
>> open as I understand you to be saying, this information has not been
>> published (or have I just not yet found it?).
>
> The problem with numbers is they imply precision that doesn't always
> exist.  There is no detailed hidden budget.  $500K is an estimate of the
> resources it would take to actualize the vision.  We have a good idea of
> how much certain things (people, mostly) cost and we have an idea of how
> many people it might take to do something like this and what other
> resources we might need. $500K is a measure of the scale of resources
> it would take to get there.

That's fine, so why not publish whatever workings there are? We are
after openness here, surely, and that, unless legally limited, should
extend to the running and financials of the Foundation. In the press
Eben has been reported as saying give me $500K and I'll deliver 1.0 in
12 months. Whether that is a generalisation or not that is what I've
seen picked up on. It would be nice to see at least some break down of
these figures and what the structure will look like.

Perhaps I should be just a bit more patient.

> We have done numerous projects on that basis (GPLv3 comes to mind),

The GPLv3 was drawing on Eben and teams core strengths in the legal
and diplomatic arenas. IMHO I don't that is directly compatible
comparison to this project. This project has a heavy technical bias,
and so far I'm not seeing much of a technical lead. I know it's early
days, but the Foundation and this project need to hit the ground
running given the coverage it is starting to get. If what we are
seeing now is all there is there is a one heck of hill to climb over
the next 12 months to hit 1.0. (although I do like a challenge :) )

> and we will of course have to do more
> number crunching when we have a better idea of the resources at our
> disposal, the staffing to enact the vision, and a community mandate as
> to what will be in the box.
>
> If it matters to you, I can say that I don't see putting any of this
> money in our own pockets (we're paid by SFLC and volunteer our time on
> this).

I didn't mean to imply that you were and I my assumption is this
project was started and is being run for altruistic reasons. The
clarification is, however, welcome.

> In any event, more details to come over the next few weeks, starting
> with Eben's talk on Friday.  If you're in NY, you're welcome to come,
> and you're welcome to ask Eben these questions directly.  He's always
> more eloquent than I am.

I only wish I could attend but I'll certainly review any materials
that come from the talk.

> Regards,
> James

Thanks for your time James, it's appreciated.

Kind regards,
Matt