- Inkscape Board of Directors

Stepping down
by Josh Andler 14 Feb '12

14 Feb '12

Hey Bradley & fellow board members, Both Aaron and I are looking to step down from our positions on the board but are unsure of what the process for this is. For me, I would just like to others the opportunity to take part and it's a piece of my reducing involvement in the project to avoid burn out (I've gotten pretty close lately). What is the process to make it official and how does the board go about nominating new members? I have a few people I'd recommend (as I've mentioned in the past) if it is of interest to you all. Cheers, Josh

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Re: [Inkscape-board] Please decide if Inkscape will give mentors option of taking payment for the SoC 2011.
by Nathan Hurst 14 Feb '12

14 Feb '12

On Fri, Feb 10, 2012 at 04:36:10PM -0500, Bradley M. Kuhn wrote: > >> 0. Will Inkscape offer to pay a stipend to the mentors who mentored > >> students in Summer of Code 2011? > Bryce Harrington wrote at 20:52 (EST) on Thursday: > > > I think our unofficial policy has been that mentors have first dibs on > > the money, but can gift it back to (i.e. leave it with) Inkscape at > > their discretion. They did the work to earn it, they should have the > > say over its disposition. > > Yes, that's been how it was handled in the past. > > > Despite that, early on all the mentors all pretty much just let Inkscape > > keep the funds, so there wasn't a question of paying it out. > > It's been mixed in previous years -- some were paid out, some weren't. > > > Does anyone feel more that the money should go directly into the > > Inkscape fund, and only paid to mentors on a case-by-case basis? > > Ok, while you do say below that you're still the Rep (sorry for > misremembering) I can take instruction from you about what to do, but I > presume that statement above is you polling everyone else... in which > case, I am going to wait to tell me the polling is done and you've > decided. I support Bryce's position. > >> 1. If the answer to (0) is yes, what is the maximum amount will be paid > >> to each mentor? > > > > It would be the maximum amount from Google ($500) less any fees. > > > > Does anyone else feel that the amount should be something different? > > Same here. $500 works for me. njh

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Re: [Inkscape-board] Please decide if Inkscape will give mentors option of taking payment for the SoC 2011.
by Bryce Harrington 10 Feb '12

10 Feb '12

On Wed, Feb 08, 2012 at 05:46:16PM -0500, Bradley M. Kuhn wrote: > Inkscape Committee, I was going to hold off on comment until others had a chance to speak, but since no one has replied yet guess I'll start. > > Bryce Harrington wrote on 2011-12-05: > >> Still, it feels kinda weird to be essentially floating a loan for > >> Google. > > I wrote on 2011-12-06: > > That's actually a separate issue entirely. In other words: "whether > > or not to pay stipends to mentors" vs. "when to pay". > ... > > It will take Google time to pay, but Google will pay. And, as I said, > > this is a "when" question. The "if" question should be answered > > separately, IMO. > > The funds from Google for SoC 2011 have arrived. Therefore, the > discussion of whether or not we'll "float" Google can fully be dropped > since it's moot now. I'm guessing this issue might come up in the future? If so, perhaps this committee should still come up with a decision on how to handle this situation. Others have commented already they don't see a problem with this. I stated my reservation but don't have strong feelings and can support the group consensus here. Does anyone else have reservations? > However, we still need an answer to these questions: > > 0. Will Inkscape offer to pay a stipend to the mentors who mentored > students in Summer of Code 2011? I think our unofficial policy has been that mentors have first dibs on the money, but can gift it back to (i.e. leave it with) Inkscape at their discretion. They did the work to earn it, they should have the say over its disposition. Despite that, early on all the mentors all pretty much just let Inkscape keep the funds, so there wasn't a question of paying it out. However, given that the Inkscape project really hasn't made much use of the cash, it sounds like lately mentors are becoming more interested in having the money to put to use themselves. Does anyone feel more that the money should go directly into the Inkscape fund, and only paid to mentors on a case-by-case basis? > 1. If the answer to (0) is yes, what is the maximum amount will be paid > to each mentor? It would be the maximum amount from Google ($500) less any fees. Does anyone else feel that the amount should be something different? > Once I have answers to these two questions from the Inkscape Committee, > I can take care of the rest. > > Below is some context from the discussion we had back in December about > this. Please note that now that the SoC 2012 is open, it might be very > good to get this settled right away. > > > I should also note that I don't currently have record who the official > "representative" of the Inkscape Committee is to Conservancy. Who is > that? Whoever it is needs to be the person to tell me officially the > answers to the questions above. I believe that would be me. I haven't been very involved in Inkscape day to day matters though since I started my current job, but then I think the other committee members are in similar situations, so maybe that's not a big deal. I'm happy to continue in the role, but if any committee members feel it's time for a new rep, I'm also fine with passing the baton. Bryce > >> That's likely one reason why mentors prefer to keep the $500 rather > >> than give it back. > > > So, as I mentioned it before, it's not accurate to say "give it back". > > To be abundantly clear, the money belongs to Inkscape as a project, > > and Inkscape can chose what to do with it. Inkscape has in the past > > chosen to give the mentors a choice to take the money or leave it with > > Inkscape. > > > > On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 1:14 PM, Nathan Hurst <njh@...19...> wrote: > >>> > As a mentor from previous years I would like to say that the > >>> > time(s) ... when I've been paid the money was very much > >>> > appreciated. I'm not convinced the money going to the inkscape > >>> > kitty has much direct value for the project - mentors put in a lot > >>> > of work for the $500 which in turn leads to successful SoCs which > >>> > lead to a) better inkscape and b) a higher chance of continued > >>> > involvement from the student and the mentor. We're not paying > >>> > oncosts or a mortgage, so sitting on cash doesn't really make > >>> > sense, it is better to spend it while it still has value. > > >> I wish we were making better use of the cash. Nathan's right that > >> it's silly for it to just sit in the bank not helping the project. > > > So, one thing worth noting is that the number $500/mentor is just what > > Google's giving to Inkscape. If Inkscape feels the mentors are > > particularly valuable, then giving more is possible. For example, > > there's plenty of funds available to Inkscape and you could chose to > > give $750/mentor, knowing that $500 will be covered by Google. > > -- > Bradley M. Kuhn, Executive Director, Software Freedom Conservancy

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Fundraising
by Josh Andler 25 Jan '12

25 Jan '12

Hey Board, Short and sweet email... I met Bradley Kuhn at SCaLE this weekend and we talked about a number of things. From talking with him I came away with the following question, how does the board feel about fundraising for getting people to conferences? Aside from a donation drive, we could obviously do promotional good like T-shirts and such to help raise funds. Thoughts? Obviously I'm in favor of it. :) Cheers, Josh

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[Fwd: Your app have been uploaded to AppWhirr]
by Ted Gould 24 Jan '12

24 Jan '12

So I just got this e-mail today. A bit troubled about the "you're in unless you request being out in 5 days" bit, but otherwise I don't care too much. What do other people think? --Ted -------- Forwarded Message -------- From: developer@...43... To: ted.gould@...23... Subject: Your app have been uploaded to AppWhirr Date: Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:39:39 +0000 Dear Developer! We just released the first iteration of our startup called AppWhirr ( https://appwhirr.com ) and uploaded your application, Inkscape to our system. AppWhirr is a cross-platform application store and application management system for Mac OS X and Windows.. Your apps are synchronized with every Windows and Mac you use. You just have to download the AppWhirr client app, log in with your AppWhirr account and all your previously used apps show up in the MyApps page. You can check your application on our site at https://appwhirr.com/app/inkscape or see it in the client app downloaded from the site. We’re working on our developer site and in a week or two you can request for a developer account to manage your application and start uploading and updating your other apps as well. It’s important for us to build a great developer community as well as a user community and we’re open to any new idea what can make app development, distribution and management easier and more fun. We’ve used other application stores as users and developed applications distributed through these stores and faced with their shortcomings many times. So we decided to make a better alternative for users and developers where users can find new, interesting apps easier and developers can distribute faster and can be a part of a great community helping each other to develop great, quality apps. You don’t have to mess with installers just upload your app and set the required dependencies (if it requires .Net, MSVC redist or any other) and AppWhirr will manage the installation for the users. You don’t have to implement a purchase system just specify the purchase method you want to use and the AppWhirr system will manage the rest. Give your app for free, (later) for money or for a tweet / facebook post. Interested in other methods? Let us know. With our upcoming SDK you can implement a cross-platform Facebook based login or an in-app purchase system with a few simple lines in your code, and much more. Have any suggestions? Let your voice heard. With AppWhirr we don’t want to make just a better app store. We want to provide a completely different vision about better and easier app discovery, management, distribution and collaboration. You can reach us at developer@...44... Sincerely, The AppWhirr Team ---- If you don't want Inkscape to be listed in our system please send us an email in 5 business days, describe the reason why you don’t want it to be included (optional but we would be glad if you could tell us your concerns and problems and we’ll try to solve them to don’t lose any other developer) and we will remove it from our store.

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Re: [Inkscape-board] Will Inkscape give mentors option of taking payment for the SoC 2011 (was Re: GSoC Mentor Payments)
by Nathan Hurst 05 Dec '11

05 Dec '11

On Mon, Dec 05, 2011 at 03:35:17PM -0500, Bradley M. Kuhn wrote: > Ted Gould wrote on the 23th of November: > > +1, I don't see any reason not to give Google a loan, they seem like > > they might be reliable. > > I haven't heard from anyone else on this, and Ted is opining only on the > issue of fronting the money for Google, not whether or not we should pay > mentors the funds, although I suppose he's implicitly endorsing that > idea. > > Note that I wrote back on the 21st of November: > >>> It is indeed the project's leadership discretion about sending funds > >>> out to the mentors. From Google's perspective, the mentor payments > >>> are a donation to the project. That said, I think it's a good idea > >>> for the project to use the money to pay the mentor, but note that's > >>> not because Google wants it to be so. I think there is some > >>> confusion about this namong mentors: there seems to be a belief > >>> among mentors that the money is theirs to keep in any event, when in > >>> fact it belongs to the project, who then decides (quite correctly, > >>> IMO) to pay the mentor the funds. It's a subtle distinction that I > >>> think is worth bringing up again so that expectations are set > >>> correctly. > > Can you all confirm that you want the Inkscape Project to give the > mentors the option to receive $500/each for mentoring in the SoC in > 2011? As a mentor from previous years I would like to say that the time(s? I can't remember now) when I've been paid the money was very much appreciated. I'm not convinced the money going to the inkscape kitty has much direct value for the project - mentors put in a lot of work for the $500 which in turn leads to successful SoCs which lead to a) better inkscape and b) a higher chance of continued involvement from the student and the mentor. We're not paying oncosts or a mortgage, so sitting on cash doesn't really make sense, it is better to spend it while it still has value. njh

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GSoC Mentor Payments
by Josh Andler 23 Nov '11

23 Nov '11

Hey Board, I wanted to bring up a somewhat important issue related to GSoC and mentoring. As we've continued throughout the years, more and more of the mentor payments have been going to mentors rather than donated to the project (economic issues is a stated factor for many). This in itself is really not an issue, the issue however is the delay in payments to the mentors caused by random and unpredictable issues that happen through the process. For example, payment to one of our mentors (I'm assuming all from last year) for GSoC 2010 didn't get to them until less than 2 weeks ago. A majority of mentors this year has chosen to receive the payments themselves. In at least one case we have an individual who actually needs to have the payment go through very soon for tax purposes in their country. Given that we have a healthy amount of funds in the bank, and the coming funds are for lack of a better way to put it, a sure thing from Google... is the board willing to agree to advance money to ensure we take care of our contributors? I do want to make it clear that we are not paying people to work on the project, just advancing payments to contributors who are hopefully bringing in the next wave of contributors. If the board wants specifics I am more than happy to provide them... however, it's actually something I would prefer to do off a public list for the sake of judgment of any participants in GSoC (as our defacto GSoC admin and an individual who respects others anonymity, I want to respect the privacy of all participants). Cheers, Josh P.S. To the two conservancy accounts, if you are not subscribed to our board list, I would recommend it... it's really low volume and almost always concerns your interaction with us.

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Re: [Inkscape-board] advanced pdf exporting
by Josh Andler 23 Sep '11

23 Sep '11

Hey Alexandre, It smells fishy, but it could also be an opportunity which just appears "off". To even consider it we would need to know who the companies are and to get information about them (Who are they? Where are they based? How long have they been around? What work history do they have? etc). Have they taken into account that Inkscape is cross-platform and it would need to work on all platforms? Not to mention that the developers will need to actually sign up for the developer-list, introduce themselves, discuss their plans, etc. And if they don't want commit access (to avoid 2 patches for each dev involved), we need for them to work in a public branch so that progress and revision history can be tracked. Have the developers even looked at our codebase? Do they have experience with other open source projects? If so, which one(s)? Honestly, this is just tip of the iceberg stuff. I think there's a lot of risk of us putting up news and we need to protect the project and our users. They are really going to need to impress me before I would be willing to consider backing it. For now though, until we get a ton of info (and my ability to verify it) as well as communication going, they won't get my support. Cheers, Josh On Thu, Sep 22, 2011 at 5:47 PM, Alexandre Prokoudine <alexandre.prokoudine@...23...> wrote: > Hello board, > > A day ago I was contacted by Łukasz Remiś who started this campaign: > > http://www.indiegogo.com/Advanced-PDF-export-plugin-for-Inkscape > > to raise funds for development of advanced PDF exporting featuring > CMYK color separation and more. > > I immediately told him. CCing Jon Cruz and Josh, that $800 is not > going to make it and that before he decides on amount of money needed > for that, he has to decide, how exactly he does it, and this is best > discussed with the team. > > The reply came few hours ago and it basically boils down to the > following: he claims to have done a finanical research and found two > companies willing to do that work for $800. So he wants me to post > news on inkscape.org about the kickstarter. > > In all hoinesty. I think this is bullshit. This is clearly not a $800 > goal, and those companies don't have a clue. And since I don't see the > guy contacting *anyone* in the team, at least publicly, I'm inclined > to ignore the request until he contacts the team and they come to > agreement about implementation, scope of the project and real price. > > The problem here is that he thinks he's right, so he might try > reaching to a wider audience, and then it's going to be a disaster. He > already posted that on inkscapeforum, and it's a blessing this hasn't > ended up on omgubuntu yet. > > So, this is the current state of affairs. Whether any decisions should > be taken, is entirely up to you. Personally, I'm not doing anything > until I see an agreement between kickstarter orgs, team and whoever > agrees to work on it. > > Alexandre >

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advanced pdf exporting
by Alexandre Prokoudine 23 Sep '11

23 Sep '11

Hello board, A day ago I was contacted by Łukasz Remiś who started this campaign: http://www.indiegogo.com/Advanced-PDF-export-plugin-for-Inkscape to raise funds for development of advanced PDF exporting featuring CMYK color separation and more. I immediately told him. CCing Jon Cruz and Josh, that $800 is not going to make it and that before he decides on amount of money needed for that, he has to decide, how exactly he does it, and this is best discussed with the team. The reply came few hours ago and it basically boils down to the following: he claims to have done a finanical research and found two companies willing to do that work for $800. So he wants me to post news on inkscape.org about the kickstarter. In all hoinesty. I think this is bullshit. This is clearly not a $800 goal, and those companies don't have a clue. And since I don't see the guy contacting *anyone* in the team, at least publicly, I'm inclined to ignore the request until he contacts the team and they come to agreement about implementation, scope of the project and real price. The problem here is that he thinks he's right, so he might try reaching to a wider audience, and then it's going to be a disaster. He already posted that on inkscapeforum, and it's a blessing this hasn't ended up on omgubuntu yet. So, this is the current state of affairs. Whether any decisions should be taken, is entirely up to you. Personally, I'm not doing anything until I see an agreement between kickstarter orgs, team and whoever agrees to work on it. Alexandre

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Travel funding related...
by Josh Andler 31 Jul '11

31 Jul '11

Hey All, I'm curious if we can do something. This is basically because of my current situation of still having a number of health related issues I'm dealing, and therefore can't maintain any form of steady work right now. Is there a possibility of the project getting a debit or credit card through the SFC that if the board votes to approve funding something Bradley can make payment arrangements in advance rather than it be reimbursement style? For the record, this is coming from a discussion with Jon Cruz last night and him nudging me to attend SVG Open in Cambridge, MA this year. I have an uncle out there I'd most likely be able to stay with, but the airfare would be the issue. As an aside, I will also bring up that we're trying to determine the 2 mentors for the GSoC Mentor's Summit this year as we have three very interested individuals. Jasper and Tav are both presenting at SVG Open this year so they will be in the states within a week of the summit. Felipe also wants to go... If one of them is on the waiting list, generally, Google will have the additional funding intended for the original slot available still and apply that. However, if we were to need additional funding to bridge a gap, what would the board say to funding a potential gap (this is hypothetical on a number of levels)? Cheers, Josh

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