Lazycoder

More on Codeplex.org

The CodePlex Foundation: First Impressions (and Recommendations)

 

Q:  So now let’s cover the basics; how is the Foundation set up?
A:  Microsoft organized CodePlex under the non-profit laws of the State of Washington, which may be a good neutral choice, or may not.  Most attorneys (myself included) aren’t familiar with Washington law, so it’s hard to tell (I always use Delaware law when forming a new non-profit, since its laws are very flexible, and most attorneys have some familiarity with it).  Also, CodePlex has not been set up as a membership organization, which is very unusual for an organization operating in an area that usually relies on consensus in order to be credible.
Q:  Is that good or bad?
A:  In my view, it’s bad, because it means that the Board of Directors not only has complete control, but the Board is also self-perpetuating (i.e., the directors elect their own successors).  Moreover, there are no term limits on how long a Board member can serve.  In this kind of organization, the Board is not answerable to the participants, and the participants have no say or control at all over how the organization is managed or evolves.
Q:  But as long as the Board is balanced, shouldn’t that be OK?
A:  In theory, yes.  And, to be fair, even in organizations (like most of the consortia I set up) where members elect the Board, almost all actions are approved by the Board, rather than the members.  And in order to pay the bills, its common that those that pay more get more of the board seats.  But I always try to get the founders to agree to charge smaller companies significantly less than large companies to join at a membership level with board election rights, and also to allocate board seats to achieve diversity in whatever way is relevant to the particular organization (e.g., geographically, by industry sector, to include end users, and so on).
In this case, individuals and companies that decide to participate in CodePlex won’t be able to vote for the directors at all.  At minimum, this means that CodePlex will have to work very hard to convince others that the Board really is balanced, and therefore will look out for the best interests of all stakeholders, and not just the company that is paying all of the bills.

An excellent review of the Codeplex.org structure written by someone with a history of setting up OSS foundations.

Codeplex.org: A confusing name for a confusing mission

A few links for your perusal:

Will Microsoft always been seen as open source Astroturf?

Microsoft to Support Open Source Foundation

If Microsoft really wants to be friends with Linux…

What The CodePlex Foundation Means To The .NET OSS Developer

Microsoft creates the CodePlex foundation

Codeplex Foundation

New Microsoft-backed open source foundation faces questions

Some quick thoughts about the new Codeplex OSS initiative

Analysis: CodePlex Foundation – The Terms of Mutual Surrender

My first instinct is to see that Microsoft is creating an open source community (I’ll use the lower-case open source because DotNetNuke does not use an approved OSI license, but it does provide one in the spirit of Open Source) parallel to the established Open Source community. I see a lot of people saying that Microsoft has “embraced openness”. Microsoft has *not* embraced openness. Microsoft DEVELOPER DIVISION has embraced openness. Microsoft still doesn’t ship Open Source on it’s Windows DVDs. Microsoft is still shipping out training manuals to vendors that contain anti-Linux/OS X FUD.

The foundation launched with a very Microsoft-heavy interim board. It doesn’t look good. It looks like business as usual for Microsoft. This coupled with the fact that there are no elected members and outgoing members choose their replacements (I misread this section of the bylaws, the current Board of Directors chooses the outgoing directors successor. No means are stipulated as how this will occur though.) could mean that the board consists of people that may lean more towards Microsoft’s message and only push .NET or Microsoft open source software.

However, they have assembled an all-star advisory board many of whom I know have the communities best interests at heart.

Overall, I think the formation of the foundation is a net positive both for the community and for Microsoft. However, I think Microsofts past, and current, actions warrant a certain amount of skepticism.

What do you think?

Joining F5 Networks Devcentral

Last Friday was the last day of my contract with Getty Images because I’ve taken a job with F5 Networks! I’ll join the Devcentral team as a web developer/content producer. Part of my job will consist of some evangelism and content production. That’s a fancy Web 2.0/Social Media Expert way of saying I’ll be learning about their products, how to best use them, and how developers can take advantage of the F5 infrastructure products when designing and architecting their applications. Of course I’ll be sharing what I learn over at my F5 blog.

I’ll also work on their Devcentral site. Modifying and configuring DotNetNuke and SubText, hopefully I’ll be able to contribute patches back to those products. Im excited to start this position, I’ve been doing pure product development for a while and it’ll be a nice change of pace to help build a community.