Board meeting, September 17th, 2008

Board members present

  • Joerg Jaspert (Ganneff) (Vice President)
  • Jimmy Kaplowitz (Hydroxide) (Secretary)
  • Michael Schultheiss (Treasurer)
  • Luk Claes (luk__)
  • Martin Zobel-Helas (zobel)
  • Neil McGovern (Maulkin)
  • Joshua D. Drake (linuxpoet)

Board members partially present

  • None

Board members absent with regrets

  • David Graham (cdlu)

Board members absent

  • Bdale Garbee (bdale) (President)

Board advisors present

  • None

Registered guests present

  • Bill Kendrick (kendrick)
  • Jonathan McDowell (Noodles)
  • Kåre Thor Olsen (Kaare)
  • Joe Nahmias (jello)

These are the draft minutes for the September 17th, 2008 SPI Board meeting, held at 19:00 UTC in #spi on irc.spi-inc.org. LOG

President's Report

None received

Treasurer's Report

Michael Schultheiss provided the following draft report covering the period from the start of the data entry system to the date of this meeting, with expenses fully up to date and check-based donations current as of the end of August.

Bank Account Summary: Checking Account Balance: $21,772.07 Savings Account Balance: $97,459.23

     project     | expenses  |  income   |   net
-----------------+-----------+-----------+----------
 Debian          | 242889.85 | 277428.79 | 34538.94
 Drupal          |      4000 |   6650.00 |  2650.00
 Freedesktop.org |           |   1900.00 |  1900.00
 Gallery         |    275.23 |   3967.93 |  3692.70
 OpenOffice.org  |           |   1062.90 |  1062.90
 OVF             |   2368.06 |   2687.14 |   319.08
 PostgreSQL      |  64983.98 |  75469.14 | 10485.16
 SPI 5%          |      0.00 |  14156.84 | 14156.84
 SPI General     |   5221.50 |  16162.65 | 10941.15

Above chart does not include the ~$30,000 in credit card donations that are in the process of being entered into the data entry system. The process of importing credit card donations into the data entry system is being documented and once that has been completed, reports can be generated ad-hoc.

It was agreed that a complete and non-draft report will be emailed to spi-private within two weeks.

Secretary's Report

Jimmy Kaplowitz mentioned that the former Secretary, Neil McGovern, is still working on and responsible for minutes up to and including the August meeting. Jimmy will be responsible for minutes starting with this meeting.

Items up for discussion

Resolution 2008-09-17.mcs.1: Tux4Kids

Tux4Kids project representative Bill Kendrick explained why Tux4Kids wanted to become an SPI associated project, how it came to that decision, and what it wants from SPI. Joerg Jaspert, seconded by Jimmy Kaplowitz, moved to approve the resolution, granting Tux4Kids associated project status.

Vote on Resolution 2008-09-17.mcs.1: Tux4Kids

Joerg JaspertYes
Neil McGovernYes
Michael SchultheissYes
Martin Zobel-HelasYes
Luk ClaesYes
Jimmy KaplowitzYes
Joshua D. DrakeYes

Motion passes with a vote of Yes: 7, No: 0, Abstain: 0.

Bill Kendrick then accepted the invitation to associate with SPI on behalf of Tux4Kids.

Statement supporting the World Day Against Software Patents

Jimmy Kaplowitz mentioned that SPI contributing member MJ Ray, who was unable to be here for this meeting, proposed on spi-general two weeks before this meeting that SPI make a statement in support of this event, and then proposed this text one week before the meeting. Discussion of the statement followed. Joshua D. Drake questioned whether SPI wanted to be an activist organization as opposed to an educational one. Several other board members expressed a willingness for SPI to take a position against software patents, and it was pointed out that existing SPI resolution 1998-11-16.iwj.2 already stated such a position. Joerg Jaspert, seconded by Jimmy Kaplowitz and Neil McGovern, moved to vote.

Voting on Resolution 2008-09-10.mjr.1: Statement supporting the World Day Against Software Patents

Joerg JaspertYes
Neil McGovernAbstain
Michael SchultheissYes
Martin Zobel-HelasYes
Luk ClaesYes
Jimmy KaplowitzYes
Joshua D. DrakeAbstain

Motion passes with a vote of Yes: 5, No: 0, Abstain: 2.

Jimmy Kaplowitz then solicited people to help prepare a news release and a notice to members.

Other Business

Joshua D. Drake invited those located west of Denver to join PostgreSQL at their West conference Oct 10-12th in Portland. http://www.pgcon.us/

He also expressed PostgreSQL's increasing agitation at the continual delays in finance finalization.

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned until Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 at 19:00 UTC in #spi on irc.oftc.net.

Appendix A: Current Board Membership

Date electedNameRole
[2004-07-29]Bdale GarbeePresident
[2007-08-06]Joerg JaspertVice President
[2006-07-29]Jimmy KaplowitzSecretary
[2006-07-31]Michael SchultheissTreasurer
[2007-08-06]Martin Zobel-Helas
[2003-11-29]David Graham
[2007-08-06]Luk Claes
[2007-08-06]Joshua D. Drake
[2006-07-31]Neil McGovern

Appendix B: Approved Resolutions

Resolution 2008-09-17.mcs.1: Tux4Kids

WHEREAS

 1. Tux4Kids is a significant Free Software project (an umbrella
    organization around Tux Typing [II] (TuxType); Tux, of Math Command
    (TuxMath) and Tux Paint).

 2. The Tux4Kids developers would like SPI's support and assistance,
    including receiving and holding property (e.g., donations) on behalf
    of the project, dispersing donations to project members, legal
    advice and representation, and possibly other services to be decided
    later by Tux4Kids.

THE SPI BOARD RESOLVES THAT

 3. Tux4Kids is formally invited to become an SPI Associated Project,
    according to the SPI Framework for Associated Projects, SPI
    Resolution 1998-11-16.iwj.1-amended-2004-08-10.iwj.1, a copy of
    which can be found at
    https://www.spi-inc.org/corporate/resolutions/2004/2004-08-10.iwj.1

 4. Currently, Bill Kendrick and David Bruce are recognised by SPI
    as the current authoritative decisionmakers for Tux4Kids.  In the
    event of a disagreement between them, Bill Kendrick's views take
    precedence.  The decisionmakers will appoint their own successors.

 5. This invitation will lapse, if not accepted, 60 days after it is
    approved by the SPI Board.

Statement supporting the World Day Against Software Patents

(Secretary's note: this became Resolution 2008-09-10.mjr.1 once approved, though it was not called a resolution upon submission.)

WHEREAS

1. we aim to aid, assist, cooperate, co-sponsor and otherwise engage
in concerted action with private, educational and governmental
organizations and associations on all issues and matters concerning
the use of computers and computer software and generally; [by-laws]

2. we are opposed to the existence of software patents and support the
work of the League for Programming Freedom; [1998-11-16.iwj.2]

3. a global coalition of more than 80 software companies, associations
and developers has declared the 24th of September to be the "World Day
Against Software Patents";
http://stopsoftwarepatents.org

SPI RESOLVES

1. to support the World Day Against Software Patents in general,
including signing the petition, issuing a news release and board
members making such comments to reporters as they feel appropriate;

2. to inform its members about opportunities to take part in events
against software patents around this time.