[Open-graphics] about kerneltrap annouce

[Timothy Miller]

On 2/28/06, Lourens Veen <lourens at rainbowdesert.net> wrote:
> On Tuesday 28 February 2006 15:45, Timothy Miller wrote:
> >
> > Note that I want OGP people to help build the web site not because I'm
> > trying to get work for free, but because I want the site to reflect
> > their interests.  Traversal is the tail of the OGP dog.
>
> Does that mean that it's supposed to be like the Mozilla Foundation to
> Mozilla, or more like what Netscape is to Mozilla? Or both?

That's a good question.  I'm not sure.  I suspect it's more like the
Netscape-Mozilla relationship.  The difference is that Netscape
existed first.  In this case, OGP existed first and will therefore
have more control over what Traversal does.

Here's something funny about it.  To protect the interests of the OGP,
Traversal will release chip IP under (L)GPL licenses.  But Traversal
will also have the ability to license that same IP under other terms,
because Traversal holds the copyright.  Of course, since OGP controls
Traversal, OGP has no less control over that IP.  It's a bit of
hand-waving put in place so that Traversal looks like a regular
company to other companies that we'd want to do business with.

(When I say that OGP controls Traversal, I mean in a
community/democratic sense.  I don't mean that we'll do any random
thing that any random person suggests on the list.)

Corporately, I want to position Traversal as the company that
implements stuff that the FOSS community needs.  Hypothetically, we
could build proprietary products that are unrelated, but tending to
the FOSS community is a better use of resources, in part because the
market research is free.

So, when OGA/OGC is selling, one thing we'll do is start work on the
next generation.  How will we find out what to PUT into that new
device?  We'll let the community decide.  If we can grow as a company,
we can add more product lines, ones decided by the needs of the
community.  When we hire people, the first people we'll consider are
ones who have been volunteers with the community.  Traversal will be
built from the FOSS community.

This democratic thinking is why, for instance, I brought up the issue
of pricing OGD1.  Theoretically, we could figure out a price some
other way, but it's better this way.  Now that we have out of the way
the concern of how OGP developers will get boards (they'll get them
one way or another), we can consider how we should price the product
for the market.  What should WE (OGP and Traversal) sell the product
for to THEM (everyone else, mostly chip designers and universities)?

Money is one of those difficult issues, though.  Since Howard, Andy,
and I are putting up the initial money, it makes sense that we manage
the profit from it.  But without the community, that money wouldn't
have come in.  So we use that money very carefully to grow Traversal,
OGP, and our relationship so that everyone benefits.  As for me, I'd
be happy if I made a reasonable salary working for Traversal, but I'd
be even happier if lots of other people dedicated to this project
could get the same thing.