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Re: More Candidate Questions

Randal L. Schwartz
>>>>> "Jecel" == Jecel Assumpcao <[hidden email]> writes:

Jecel> I would like Squeak 4.1 (or 4.2, as the case may be) to be a small
Jecel> kernel into which you can load stuff like Etoys and/or Croquet, web
Jecel> development and email client and so on.

I see 4.1 as a snapshot of the progress made in the past nine months
since Andreas opened up trunk.

And once 4.1 is in everyone's hands, we can start to make the core even
smaller.  4.2 may be as you say... a small core with a bootstrapping
installer (Metacello?) that can load any combination of public and
private things to spin out whatever image you want.

--
Randal L. Schwartz - Stonehenge Consulting Services, Inc. - +1 503 777 0095
<[hidden email]> <URL:http://www.stonehenge.com/merlyn/>
Smalltalk/Perl/Unix consulting, Technical writing, Comedy, etc. etc.
See http://methodsandmessages.vox.com/ for Smalltalk and Seaside discussion

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Re: More Candidate Questions

Tapple Gao
On Tue, Mar 09, 2010 at 04:51:36PM -0800, Randal L. Schwartz wrote:
> And once 4.1 is in everyone's hands, we can start to make the core even
> smaller.  4.2 may be as you say... a small core with a bootstrapping
> installer (Metacello?) that can load any combination of public and
> private things to spin out whatever image you want.

I like that plan. I'd like to help make a practical package
loading tool for Squeak, and test it on Cobalt. If it can make
Cobalt loadable, it can handle just about anything except Etoys
(in its current form)

--
Matthew Fulmer (a.k.a. Tapple)

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Re: More Candidate Questions

Colin Putney
In reply to this post by Bert Freudenberg

On 2010-03-09, at 2:40 AM, Bert Freudenberg wrote:

>> I am interested in what the new Candidates say, or don't say, and not what the previous board or board members or vocal minorities say.
>>
>> Thank you for your responses.
>> You are so far one of the 3 out of 11 Candidates who have responded.
>>
>> Ken G. Brown
>
> You really want a "me too" response?

Hey it's politics. The point of the question wasn't to solicit information, but to get you to go on record. Then, if for some reason the SFC project doesn't pan out, it's evidence that you haven't kept your word.

Colin
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Re: More Candidate Questions

Michael Haupt-3
Colin,

On Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 4:46 AM, Colin Putney <[hidden email]> wrote:
> Hey it's politics. The point of the question wasn't to solicit information, but to get you to go on record. Then, if for some reason the SFC project doesn't pan out, it's evidence that you haven't kept your word.

I think that nails it. Thanks.

Best,

Michael

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Re: More Candidate Questions

Bert Freudenberg
In reply to this post by Colin Putney
On 10.03.2010, at 04:46, Colin Putney wrote:

>
>
> On 2010-03-09, at 2:40 AM, Bert Freudenberg wrote:
>
>>> I am interested in what the new Candidates say, or don't say, and not what the previous board or board members or vocal minorities say.
>>>
>>> Thank you for your responses.
>>> You are so far one of the 3 out of 11 Candidates who have responded.
>>>
>>> Ken G. Brown
>>
>> You really want a "me too" response?
>
> Hey it's politics. The point of the question wasn't to solicit information, but to get you to go on record. Then, if for some reason the SFC project doesn't pan out, it's evidence that you haven't kept your word.
>
> Colin

Thanks for explaining. I honestly couldn't get it.

Ken - I'm an engineer. Not a politician, not even a manager. Squeak to me has much more to do with friendship than politics. I'm not running for the board to gain power, but because friends help each other out, and in my mind the more experienced should take a larger burden.

If you're looking for a politician, do not vote for me.

- Bert -



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Re: More Candidate Questions

Göran Krampe
Bert Freudenberg wrote:
> Ken - I'm an engineer. Not a politician, not even a manager. Squeak to me has much more to do with friendship than politics. I'm not running for the board to gain power, but because friends help each other out, and in my mind the more experienced should take a larger burden.
>
> If you're looking for a politician, do not vote for me.
>
> - Bert -

You just earned my vote. Sorry for "breaching" my role as Election
leader by giving a personal reflection here, but I am all with you Bert
on this one.

regards, Göran


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Re: More Candidate Questions

Ken G. Brown
In reply to this post by Bert Freudenberg
At 10:58 AM +0100 3/10/10, Bert Freudenberg apparently wrote:

>On 10.03.2010, at 04:46, Colin Putney wrote:
>>
>>
>> On 2010-03-09, at 2:40 AM, Bert Freudenberg wrote:
>>
>>>> I am interested in what the new Candidates say, or don't say, and not what the previous board or board members or vocal minorities say.
>>>>
>>>> Thank you for your responses.
>>>> You are so far one of the 3 out of 11 Candidates who have responded.
>>>>
>>>> Ken G. Brown
>>>
>>> You really want a "me too" response?
>>
>> Hey it's politics. The point of the question wasn't to solicit information, but to get you to go on record. Then, if for some reason the SFC project doesn't pan out, it's evidence that you haven't kept your word.
>>
>> Colin
>
>Thanks for explaining. I honestly couldn't get it.
>
>Ken - I'm an engineer. Not a politician, not even a manager. Squeak to me has much more to do with friendship than politics. I'm not running for the board to gain power, but because friends help each other out, and in my mind the more experienced should take a larger burden.
>
>If you're looking for a politician, do not vote for me.
>
>- Bert -

I too am an engineer and actually have almost zero interest in politics, so I think Colin is completely off the mark with respect to my intentions. The reason I asked my questions was in the hope that Candidates would respond in a way that I could determine who I wished to vote for. If this is politics though, I guess then I'm guilty.

>From this engineer's point of view, I don't think the way the Squeak Oversight Board (SOB) works is engineered very well at the moment, and I have seen ample experimental evidence that shows that.
 
I want to see people on the board who are interested in engineering a solid SOB with clear and transparent-to-the-community 'Rules of Governance' or 'Constitution'. I think of this as the well defined and published-for-all-to see, API for the SOB with a good set of tests and checks and balances as well. This would hopefully ensure that next year's SOB would work the same or better than last year's, independent of the individual members at the time.

If the SOB were a piece of software you were designing, I don't think you would preferentially make it a spaghetti-coded black box that was allowed to randomly do whatever it happened to feel like at any particular moment when you give it some inputs, and with no confidence that the next time those same inputs are given, that the results will be the same. I would also like to be able to easily look inside at any time to see how things are implemented, see how things are going and have been going. eg. financial accounts, minutes of the meetings. I would like to see a well engineered SOB built for the future with the best principles, in 'the best possible way'. I don't want to see the SOB built from the point of view of 'the simplest thing that could possibly work' and have to be redone every year.

You may have noted Ken Causey's recent email in response to Gary Dunn <http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/pipermail/squeak-dev/2010-March/146122.html>. It seems that others are also unclear about the way the SOB works, even Candidates who will have to deal with it.

If you or any other Candidates are for a well engineered SOB built for the future, while minimizing politics and legal mumbo jumbo, then my votes are for you.

Ken G. Brown

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Re: More Candidate Questions

Michael Haupt-3
In reply to this post by Bert Freudenberg
Hi Ken,

On Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 2:47 PM, Ken G. Brown <[hidden email]> wrote:
> If you or any other Candidates are for a well engineered SOB built for the future, while minimizing politics and legal mumbo jumbo ...

believe it or not, I'd *love* to. Absolutely. :-)

Best,

Michael

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Re: More Candidate Questions

Chris Muller-3
In reply to this post by Bert Freudenberg
Hi Ken, I just saw your message here and feel compelled to heed your
calls to respond!

Let me first just say, with me you'd be getting a freshman, not an
experienced board member.  When it comes to technical or usability
issues about Squeak, I have quite a bit of opinion and input to
contribute.  However, in terms "building a legal presence", I only
know what I _want_, not necessarily how to go about it.  My knowledge
of, and interest in, legal matters is very low.  I am more interested
in the outcome of these processes; a Squeak that external entities
like corporations can feel safe to use (I've always felt it was
legally safe to use, but corporations must be more conservative).
Legal wrangling takes time away from technical wrangling, but the
results it produces (has produced!) is very important and I will be
happy to voice my support with the majority when it comes to legal
matters, since I know we all pretty much have the same goals w.r.t.
this.

> I want to see people on the board who are interested in engineering a solid SOB with clear and transparent-to-the-community 'Rules of Governance' or 'Constitution'. I think of this as the well defined and published-for-all-to see, API for the SOB with a good set of tests and checks and balances as well. This would hopefully ensure that next year's SOB would work the same or better than last year's, independent of the individual members at the time.

In terms of a Constitution, I must confess that I am not sure what
would be in it.  Although I would not _oppose_ a constitution that was
short and general enough to fit around what we all know to be our
current direction, I do question its purpose.  I would not be
interested in spending a lot of time and resources wrangling on its
words.  For whatever differences that exist in the community, we have
medium to work them out; this list.  I am interested in parties
working out their differences based on our continued discussion on
this list.

Even if we had one, I also wonder what remediation of our differences
a constitution would provide that we don't already have.  What if one
or more members of the board weren't abiding by the constitution?  As
I see it, there are two choices:

  - Community likes what's being done, constitution is out of date and
needs updated.
  - Community doesn't like what's being done, but board member(s) can
be recalled today anyway, if they are bad-enough can't they?

In either case, what is the net-plus provided by a static document?
To me, "constitution" is a reflection of each of our own personal
constitutions; where we've said we want to go.  While I'm not opposed
to writing some general values down on paper, I don't currently
understand how it would help resolve any differences that might come
up, and I would be somewhat concerned whether such a document would be
used as a political tool that taxes community resources.

  - Chris




On Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 7:47 AM, Ken G. Brown <[hidden email]> wrote:

> At 10:58 AM +0100 3/10/10, Bert Freudenberg apparently wrote:
>>On 10.03.2010, at 04:46, Colin Putney wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> On 2010-03-09, at 2:40 AM, Bert Freudenberg wrote:
>>>
>>>>> I am interested in what the new Candidates say, or don't say, and not what the previous board or board members or vocal minorities say.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thank you for your responses.
>>>>> You are so far one of the 3 out of 11 Candidates who have responded.
>>>>>
>>>>> Ken G. Brown
>>>>
>>>> You really want a "me too" response?
>>>
>>> Hey it's politics. The point of the question wasn't to solicit information, but to get you to go on record. Then, if for some reason the SFC project doesn't pan out, it's evidence that you haven't kept your word.
>>>
>>> Colin
>>
>>Thanks for explaining. I honestly couldn't get it.
>>
>>Ken - I'm an engineer. Not a politician, not even a manager. Squeak to me has much more to do with friendship than politics. I'm not running for the board to gain power, but because friends help each other out, and in my mind the more experienced should take a larger burden.
>>
>>If you're looking for a politician, do not vote for me.
>>
>>- Bert -
>
> I too am an engineer and actually have almost zero interest in politics, so I think Colin is completely off the mark with respect to my intentions. The reason I asked my questions was in the hope that Candidates would respond in a way that I could determine who I wished to vote for. If this is politics though, I guess then I'm guilty.
>
> >From this engineer's point of view, I don't think the way the Squeak Oversight Board (SOB) works is engineered very well at the moment, and I have seen ample experimental evidence that shows that.
>
> I want to see people on the board who are interested in engineering a solid SOB with clear and transparent-to-the-community 'Rules of Governance' or 'Constitution'. I think of this as the well defined and published-for-all-to see, API for the SOB with a good set of tests and checks and balances as well. This would hopefully ensure that next year's SOB would work the same or better than last year's, independent of the individual members at the time.
>
> If the SOB were a piece of software you were designing, I don't think you would preferentially make it a spaghetti-coded black box that was allowed to randomly do whatever it happened to feel like at any particular moment when you give it some inputs, and with no confidence that the next time those same inputs are given, that the results will be the same. I would also like to be able to easily look inside at any time to see how things are implemented, see how things are going and have been going. eg. financial accounts, minutes of the meetings. I would like to see a well engineered SOB built for the future with the best principles, in 'the best possible way'. I don't want to see the SOB built from the point of view of 'the simplest thing that could possibly work' and have to be redone every year.
>
> You may have noted Ken Causey's recent email in response to Gary Dunn <http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/pipermail/squeak-dev/2010-March/146122.html>. It seems that others are also unclear about the way the SOB works, even Candidates who will have to deal with it.
>
> If you or any other Candidates are for a well engineered SOB built for the future, while minimizing politics and legal mumbo jumbo, then my votes are for you.
>
> Ken G. Brown
>
>

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Re: More Candidate Questions

Bert Freudenberg
In reply to this post by Ken G. Brown
On 10.03.2010, at 14:47, Ken G. Brown wrote:

>
> At 10:58 AM +0100 3/10/10, Bert Freudenberg apparently wrote:
>>
>> Ken - I'm an engineer. Not a politician, not even a manager. Squeak to me has much more to do with friendship than politics. I'm not running for the board to gain power, but because friends help each other out, and in my mind the more experienced should take a larger burden.
>>
>> If you're looking for a politician, do not vote for me.
>>
>> - Bert -
>
> I too am an engineer and actually have almost zero interest in politics, so I think Colin is completely off the mark with respect to my intentions. The reason I asked my questions was in the hope that Candidates would respond in a way that I could determine who I wished to vote for. If this is politics though, I guess then I'm guilty.
>
>>
> From this engineer's point of view, I don't think the way the Squeak Oversight Board (SOB) works is engineered very well at the moment, and I have seen ample experimental evidence that shows that.
>
> I want to see people on the board who are interested in engineering a solid SOB with clear and transparent-to-the-community 'Rules of Governance' or 'Constitution'. I think of this as the well defined and published-for-all-to see, API for the SOB with a good set of tests and checks and balances as well. This would hopefully ensure that next year's SOB would work the same or better than last year's, independent of the individual members at the time.
>
> If the SOB were a piece of software you were designing, I don't think you would preferentially make it a spaghetti-coded black box that was allowed to randomly do whatever it happened to feel like at any particular moment when you give it some inputs, and with no confidence that the next time those same inputs are given, that the results will be the same. I would also like to be able to easily look inside at any time to see how things are implemented, see how things are going and have been going. eg. financial accounts, minutes of the meetings. I would like to see a well engineered SOB built for the future with the best principles, in 'the best possible way'. I don't want to see the SOB built from the point of view of 'the simplest thing that could possibly work' and have to be redone every year.
>
> You may have noted Ken Causey's recent email in response to Gary Dunn <http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/pipermail/squeak-dev/2010-March/146122.html>. It seems that others are also unclear about the way the SOB works, even Candidates who will have to deal with it.
>
> If you or any other Candidates are for a well engineered SOB built for the future, while minimizing politics and legal mumbo jumbo, then my votes are for you.
>
> Ken G. Brown

Now that sounds a lot more friendly. Thanks for putting it in terms I can understand ;)

The role and definition of the board is slowly evolving. We did not have anything like it for most of Squeak's history, though there were kings, dark ages, and self-declared dictators [1].

Electing that gang of seven every year since 2006 somehow has worked out, even without explicit rules. Maybe joining the SFC enables us to evolve to something a bit more organized. E.g., the idea for a more explicit membership model that Craig listed in his campaign statement, I like that. In fact I brought that up as a possible model because I'm involved with SugarLabs, too [2]. We also borrowed the term "oversight board" from SugarLabs this year.

As for a "constitution", I don't see how rigid rules or any other radical change (as demanded by some) would be helpful, nor find many supporters. The best we could hope for IMHO is putting the current practice in writing (though even that would be hard), and then gradually improving on that. Having it written down would be a Good Thing, in particular for newcomers, as long as it is not written in stone. But that would be impractical anyway ;)

OTOH if indeed someone could come up with a "well engineered SOB" (assuming elegance and simplicity is even possible when designing group processes) I'd be happy to support that.

- Bert -

[1] Great summary by Göran: http://news.squeak.org/2007/06/30/squeak-tale/

[2] http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_Labs/Members
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Re: More Candidate Questions

Karl Ramberg
In reply to this post by Tapple Gao
On Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 2:32 AM, Matthew Fulmer <[hidden email]> wrote:

> On Tue, Mar 09, 2010 at 04:51:36PM -0800, Randal L. Schwartz wrote:
>> And once 4.1 is in everyone's hands, we can start to make the core even
>> smaller.  4.2 may be as you say... a small core with a bootstrapping
>> installer (Metacello?) that can load any combination of public and
>> private things to spin out whatever image you want.
>
> I like that plan. I'd like to help make a practical package
> loading tool for Squeak, and test it on Cobalt. If it can make
> Cobalt loadable, it can handle just about anything except Etoys
> (in its current form)
>
> --
> Matthew Fulmer (a.k.a. Tapple)
>
>

Fast general package/project loading would rock.  Image segments are
only good for smaller projects, not for packages with lots of changes
and code.

Karl

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Re: More Candidate Questions

Ken G. Brown
In reply to this post by Bert Freudenberg
At 5:33 PM +0100 3/10/10, Bert Freudenberg apparently wrote:

>On 10.03.2010, at 14:47, Ken G. Brown wrote:
>>
>> At 10:58 AM +0100 3/10/10, Bert Freudenberg apparently wrote:
>>>
>>> Ken - I'm an engineer. Not a politician, not even a manager. Squeak to me has much more to do with friendship than politics. I'm not running for the board to gain power, but because friends help each other out, and in my mind the more experienced should take a larger burden.
>>>
>>> If you're looking for a politician, do not vote for me.
>>>
>>> - Bert -
>>
>> I too am an engineer and actually have almost zero interest in politics, so I think Colin is completely off the mark with respect to my intentions. The reason I asked my questions was in the hope that Candidates would respond in a way that I could determine who I wished to vote for. If this is politics though, I guess then I'm guilty.
>>
>>>
>> From this engineer's point of view, I don't think the way the Squeak Oversight Board (SOB) works is engineered very well at the moment, and I have seen ample experimental evidence that shows that.
>>
>> I want to see people on the board who are interested in engineering a solid SOB with clear and transparent-to-the-community 'Rules of Governance' or 'Constitution'. I think of this as the well defined and published-for-all-to see, API for the SOB with a good set of tests and checks and balances as well. This would hopefully ensure that next year's SOB would work the same or better than last year's, independent of the individual members at the time.
>>
>> If the SOB were a piece of software you were designing, I don't think you would preferentially make it a spaghetti-coded black box that was allowed to randomly do whatever it happened to feel like at any particular moment when you give it some inputs, and with no confidence that the next time those same inputs are given, that the results will be the same. I would also like to be able to easily look inside at any time to see how things are implemented, see how things are going and have been going. eg. financial accounts, minutes of the meetings. I would like to see a well engineered SOB built for the future with the best principles, in 'the best possible way'. I don't want to see the SOB built from the point of view of 'the simplest thing that could possibly work' and have to be redone every year.
>>
>> You may have noted Ken Causey's recent email in response to Gary Dunn <http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/pipermail/squeak-dev/2010-March/146122.html>. It seems that others are also unclear about the way the SOB works, even Candidates who will have to deal with it.
>>
>> If you or any other Candidates are for a well engineered SOB built for the future, while minimizing politics and legal mumbo jumbo, then my votes are for you.
>>
>> Ken G. Brown
>
>Now that sounds a lot more friendly. Thanks for putting it in terms I can understand ;)

Hey, I'm a friendly guy! :) With a good heart. Please take what I say in the best possible way.
My intentions are only positive for the Squeak community overall.

>
>The role and definition of the board is slowly evolving. We did not have anything like it for most of Squeak's history, though there were kings, dark ages, and self-declared dictators [1].
>
>Electing that gang of seven every year since 2006 somehow has worked out, even without explicit rules. Maybe joining the SFC enables us to evolve to something a bit more organized. E.g., the idea for a more explicit membership model that Craig listed in his campaign statement, I like that. In fact I brought that up as a possible model because I'm involved with SugarLabs, too [2]. We also borrowed the term "oversight board" from SugarLabs this year.

I haven't looked into the way SugarLabs is set up. Maybe that would be good. Hopefully the SOB can make a good decision with respect to going that way.

>As for a "constitution", I don't see how rigid rules or any other radical change (as demanded by some) would be helpful, nor find many supporters. The best we could hope for IMHO is putting the current practice in writing (though even that would be hard), and then gradually improving on that.

This would appear to me to be worth pursuing. Maybe Andreas's list of 'Release Tasks' <http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/pipermail/squeak-dev/2010-March/146246.html> could be put in there in a sub-heading.
And of course, how the SOB relates to the release team in particular, and teams in general would be good for all to see.


> Having it written down would be a Good Thing, in particular for newcomers, as long as it is not written in stone. But that would be impractical anyway ;)
>
>OTOH if indeed someone could come up with a "well engineered SOB" (assuming elegance and simplicity is even possible when designing group processes) I'd be happy to support that.

I think almost anything is better than the current situation as far as documenting what the SOB is, does, and how it is intended to operate.

Ken G. Brown

>- Bert -
>
>[1] Great summary by Göran: http://news.squeak.org/2007/06/30/squeak-tale/
>
>[2] http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_Labs/Members


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Re: More Candidate Questions

Ken G. Brown
In reply to this post by Chris Muller-3
At 10:27 AM -0600 3/10/10, Chris Muller apparently wrote:
>Hi Ken, I just saw your message here and feel compelled to heed your
>calls to respond!

Yay! Thx.

>Let me first just say, with me you'd be getting a freshman, not an
>experienced board member.  When it comes to technical or usability
>issues about Squeak, I have quite a bit of opinion and input to
>contribute.  However, in terms "building a legal presence", I only
>know what I _want_, not necessarily how to go about it.  My knowledge
>of, and interest in, legal matters is very low.  I am more interested
>in the outcome of these processes; a Squeak that external entities
>like corporations can feel safe to use (I've always felt it was
>legally safe to use, but corporations must be more conservative).
>Legal wrangling takes time away from technical wrangling, but the
>results it produces (has produced!) is very important and I will be
>happy to voice my support with the majority when it comes to legal
>matters, since I know we all pretty much have the same goals w.r.t.
>this.
>
>> I want to see people on the board who are interested in engineering a solid SOB with clear and transparent-to-the-community 'Rules of Governance' or 'Constitution'. I think of this as the well defined and published-for-all-to see, API for the SOB with a good set of tests and checks and balances as well. This would hopefully ensure that next year's SOB would work the same or better than last year's, independent of the individual members at the time.
>
>In terms of a Constitution, I must confess that I am not sure what
>would be in it.  Although I would not _oppose_ a constitution that was
>short and general enough to fit around what we all know to be our
>current direction, I do question its purpose.  I would not be
>interested in spending a lot of time and resources wrangling on its
>words.  For whatever differences that exist in the community, we have
>medium to work them out; this list.  I am interested in parties
>working out their differences based on our continued discussion on
>this list.
>
>Even if we had one, I also wonder what remediation of our differences
>a constitution would provide that we don't already have.  What if one
>or more members of the board weren't abiding by the constitution?  As
>I see it, there are two choices:
>
>  - Community likes what's being done, constitution is out of date and
>needs updated.
>  - Community doesn't like what's being done, but board member(s) can
>be recalled today anyway, if they are bad-enough can't they?

I don't know, can they?
This is the point, there doesn't seem to be any way of knowing what the SOB might do other than what they decide at any point which could be anything.
And is there any view of where the money goes? Is there any money? Where is the bank account. Is there one? Who can sign on behalf of the SOB? Who will sign the contract with SFC?
And on and on.

Any non-profit group I have had anything to do with seems to have some certain basics in place that seem to be missing in our case with the SOB. At least in my limited view.

>In either case, what is the net-plus provided by a static document?

Perhaps a completely static document may not be the best at this point, unless it were a really good one.

And don't get me wrong, I am not in favour of a bunch of time wasting legalese or politispeak either, but I think some real good fundamental guidelines would go a long ways.

Ken G. Brown

>To me, "constitution" is a reflection of each of our own personal
>constitutions; where we've said we want to go.  While I'm not opposed
>to writing some general values down on paper, I don't currently
>understand how it would help resolve any differences that might come
>up, and I would be somewhat concerned whether such a document would be
>used as a political tool that taxes community resources.
>
>  - Chris
>
>
>
>
>On Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 7:47 AM, Ken G. Brown <[hidden email]> wrote:
> > At 10:58 AM +0100 3/10/10, Bert Freudenberg apparently wrote:
>>>On 10.03.2010, at 04:46, Colin Putney wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 2010-03-09, at 2:40 AM, Bert Freudenberg wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>> I am interested in what the new Candidates say, or don't say, and not what the previous board or board members or vocal minorities say.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Thank you for your responses.
>>>>>> You are so far one of the 3 out of 11 Candidates who have responded.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Ken G. Brown
>>>>>
>>>>> You really want a "me too" response?
>>>>
>>>> Hey it's politics. The point of the question wasn't to solicit information, but to get you to go on record. Then, if for some reason the SFC project doesn't pan out, it's evidence that you haven't kept your word.
>>>>
>>>> Colin
>>>
>>>Thanks for explaining. I honestly couldn't get it.
>>>
>>>Ken - I'm an engineer. Not a politician, not even a manager. Squeak to me has much more to do with friendship than politics. I'm not running for the board to gain power, but because friends help each other out, and in my mind the more experienced should take a larger burden.
>>>
>>>If you're looking for a politician, do not vote for me.
>>>
>>>- Bert -
>>
>> I too am an engineer and actually have almost zero interest in politics, so I think Colin is completely off the mark with respect to my intentions. The reason I asked my questions was in the hope that Candidates would respond in a way that I could determine who I wished to vote for. If this is politics though, I guess then I'm guilty.
>>
>> >From this engineer's point of view, I don't think the way the Squeak Oversight Board (SOB) works is engineered very well at the moment, and I have seen ample experimental evidence that shows that.
>>
>> I want to see people on the board who are interested in engineering a solid SOB with clear and transparent-to-the-community 'Rules of Governance' or 'Constitution'. I think of this as the well defined and published-for-all-to see, API for the SOB with a good set of tests and checks and balances as well. This would hopefully ensure that next year's SOB would work the same or better than last year's, independent of the individual members at the time.
>>
>> If the SOB were a piece of software you were designing, I don't think you would preferentially make it a spaghetti-coded black box that was allowed to randomly do whatever it happened to feel like at any particular moment when you give it some inputs, and with no confidence that the next time those same inputs are given, that the results will be the same. I would also like to be able to easily look inside at any time to see how things are implemented, see how things are going and have been going. eg. financial accounts, minutes of the meetings. I would like to see a well engineered SOB built for the future with the best principles, in 'the best possible way'. I don't want to see the SOB built from the point of view of 'the simplest thing that could possibly work' and have to be redone every year.
>>
>> You may have noted Ken Causey's recent email in response to Gary Dunn <http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/pipermail/squeak-dev/2010-March/146122.html>. It seems that others are also unclear about the way the SOB works, even Candidates who will have to deal with it.
>>
>> If you or any other Candidates are for a well engineered SOB built for the future, while minimizing politics and legal mumbo jumbo, then my votes are for you.
>>
>> Ken G. Brown
>>
>>


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Re: More Candidate Questions

Bert Freudenberg
On 10.03.2010, at 21:22, Ken G. Brown wrote:
>
> Any non-profit group I have had anything to do with seems to have some certain basics in place that seem to be missing in our case with the SOB. At least in my limited view.

Your view is a bit limited in that it ignores history. We're just a bunch of individuals struggling to get organized. We're not a non-profit group yet. We don't have a bank account. And that's precisely where the SFC comes in.

- Bert -


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