Ask HN: Experiences in Open Source Foundations?

3 points by tduberne 6y ago ↗ HN

I am currently looking at ways to formalize the management of a niche OSS project that is growing in user adoption. One standard solution is to found a "foundation" or "association". I already reviewed the structure of a few of them (Linux Foundation, Python Software Foundation, Drupal Association, Document Foundation, Gnome Foundation...) and could already gain some insights from how they operate.

By just looking at those examples, though, I am still missing part of the picture. In particular, it would be interesting to have: - examples of failed initiatives. I fear I might fall in survivor bias in assuming whatever characteristics those foundations have is the reason for their "success" (or survival) - more insights on how and why those institution evolved. Did they have to iterate until they find the good membership prices and benefits? Did they always succeed in their aim of supporting the software, and if not what was the problem? Were there cases of a particular vendor "taking over" the control?

I am sure there are lots of people here on HN with experience either in founding/operating such a foundation, or being a supporting member and user of the software, and I would love to hear what they have to say about the above points (or any other I might have missed!)

2 comments

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[dead] esergndz 6y ago ↗

cool

[dead] sinopsis 6y ago ↗

Greetings friend! I have some experience that may be useful to you. I worked in the field of project management in the field of healthcare. We had a paid windows server 2012 installed, but a self-written CRM-for project management. It is written in MySQL, supplemented by a shell for the user. In general, such a bunch works stably, but you need to periodically clean up the database of projects in MySQL, otherwise it starts to lag strongly. Regarding your situation, you need to choose a system based on the software that you plan to use; there is some highly specialized software that is not available on Linux. I wish you success!