Minutes: OpenEmbedded eV Board meeting, 20-Jun-2011

Minutes: OpenEmbedded eV Board meeting, 20-Jun-2011

[Denys Dmytriyenko]

Minutes: OpenEmbedded eV Board meeting, 20-Jun-2011

Attendees:

Michael Lauer (mickey)
Philip Balister (Crofton)
Florian Boor (florian)
Denys Dmytriyenko (denix)

Agenda:

00) congratulate Mickey with the recent birth of his daughter

01) denix agrees to take meeting minutes

02) state the agenda topics, collect any last minute additions:
* current status of hosting services
* funding the purchase of a network switch for the servers
* general discussion of eV budget, spendings
* another call for donations
* TSC election proposal from RP
* upcoming events and the creation of a "show" box

03) discussed the current state of OE hosting services
* list of funding requested by infrastructure team (Tom King) reduced to the 
network switch
* other items were resolved with the help of The Linux Foundation:
  ** LF sponsors Tom's travel
  ** LF donates hosting servers
* denix asked for clarification of what is being donated and whom it's donated 
to (i.e. is there a lease being signed?):
  ** LF grant/donation is not directly to OE eV, but rather to nas-admin group 
at OSUOSL that serves OE infrastructure among other Open Source projects
  ** the remaining piece of equipment OE eV needs to fund is the network 
switch
  ** Board to ask Tom for more details for the following:
    = hardware side, preferably accompanied by pictures of the actual rack and 
equipment
    = organization charts and interactions of the involved parties: Tom, OE 
infrastructure team, nas-admin, OSUOSL etc.

04) approve to fund the network switch
* estimated at $1500 = ~800-1000 eur
* somewhat expensive, server grade - "not the type used at home"
* Board to trust Tom on selecting the right switch
* figure out the way to transfer money to nas-admin/OSUOSL
  ** Tom to coordinate

05) OE eV budget
* currently there is around 3000 eur in the bank
* florian to check with the bank in Germany if possible to open a debit/credit 
card linked with the eV account
* preferably without annual or any idle fees

06) call for donation
* OE needs an income stream - another call for donations in the mailing lists
* denix to check if TI can make another donation
  ** may be difficult, as TI and other companies are LF/Yocto members and pay 
dues
  ** thus, latest LF donations to OE as a "feedback" channel make sense

07) review RP's proposal of TSC re-election
* proposal is for Richard and Stefan to step down first and run elections for 
1 seat
* then continue with one-at-a-time elections going forward
* alternative is to elect the entire TSC at once:
  ** deemed unnecessary and bad for the project
* agree and approve RP/TSC proposal
* Board to initiate the election process:
  ** announce another round of candidates for 1 TSC seat, discussion phase, 
call for votes (Mickey)
* discuss the voting logistics - ask if Graeme can help with counting the 
votes, or use one of the proposed software
* Crofton says Graeme is on travel for next 2 weeks, but agreed to count the 
votes after that
  ** that gives proper timing for announcement, discussion and call for votes 
phases

08) upcoming events and show box
* agree to allow spending up to 500 eur at florian's discretion on the show 
box
* ac adapters, multiplugs, switch, accesspoint, flyers, posters, tft + cables, 
tape, some lights
* include some dev boards, donated by companies
* some of the items already exist and were previously donated
* need table cloth, which exists, but needs washing
* ELC-E in Prague in October
* agree to schedule the General Assembly at ELC-E (Crofton)
* Crofton to talk to Jefro/RP about reserving a room

09) Board to have another meeting in 3 weeks
* around 8th-10th of July

Re: Minutes: OpenEmbedded eV Board meeting, 20-Jun-2011

[Philip Balister]

On 06/24/2011 09:37 AM, Dirk Hohndel wrote:
> On Thu, 23 Jun 2011 23:53:11 -0400, Denys Dmytriyenko<denis@denix.org>  wrote:
>> Minutes: OpenEmbedded eV Board meeting, 20-Jun-2011
>>
>> Agenda:
>> 06) call for donation
>> * OE needs an income stream - another call for donations in the mailing lists
>> * denix to check if TI can make another donation
>>    ** may be difficult, as TI and other companies are LF/Yocto members and pay
>> dues
>>    ** thus, latest LF donations to OE as a "feedback" channel make sense
>
> We (or more likely, the Board) should establish clearly how this OE
> income stream should work.
>
> Do we (the OE members) WANT to have the LF provide a well defined
> reasonable income stream to OE? Then RP or I can trigger that
> conversation with Jim Zemlin, Exec Director of the LF.
>
> Or do we PREFER to solicit independent donations to avoid the perception
> of being dependent on LF? In that case please talk to DaveS or me about
> an Intel donation to OE.

This is a very good question.

I would like to see the eV have a steady income from a diverse group of 
people. At the same time, any income is helpful.

A reliable income stream allows the board to make long term plans. We 
need to provide the nas-admin group at OSUOSL with better financial 
support to cover our infrastructure needs as the project grows.

Basically, we have two sources of income, corporate sponsorship and 
individual donations. As a board member, I would like to hear from the 
membership what people think, both about how we should spend money and 
how we should raise money.

Philip