Re: [Fsfe-uk] Activity

[Alex Hudson]

Hi guys,

Apologies for not jumping in sooner, real life is busy right now :)

The status of AFFS is technically dormancy, but really it has reached 
the end of its life. A number of aspects of it basically turned out to 
be unworkable, but live and learn I guess. The main issue is that AFFS 
has not really ever managed to disperse any assets: we've collected 
donations to the FSFE and forwarded those on, and we've paid for some 
conferences, but that's been basically about it. I guess the silver 
lining to that cloud is that there is now a small nest-egg which needs 
to be taken on by a group with (very) similar aims.

The reason I say end of life isn't much to do with the AFFS or people 
itself; we still have issues with the bank account which have never 
really been sorted out properly despite efforts of a number of us 
(indeed, MJ kicked that off way back when).

I would love to see interest in this type of work pick up again. FSFE 
has started showing more interest in the UK again, we still have 
software patents work to do, the Govt. is still interested in policy and 
things - there's plenty of scope, the problem has been simply lack of 
manpower I think. I know there is a relatively active free software 
group in Manchester again, and obviously there are still people on this 
list, but I think what is key is for people to get to grips with the 
actual issues and propose ways of addressing them and getting beyond the 
'free software supporters club'.

Cheers,

Alex.

John¹ wrote:
> On Friday 27 February 2009 08:23:22 Marc Eberhard 
> <address@hidden> wrote:
>   
> > same here. I tried some time ago to find out what the current status of
> > AFFS is. I did get some replies, which confirmed that AFFS is currently
> > dormant. I personally don't have much time, but I would certainly like
> > to see AFFS coming back to life.
> >     
>
> It would be interesting to know how many of those who were members of the 
> AFFS are still members, (in the sense that they are still paying a 
> subscription), I can't at the moment remember what the rules on a quorum 
> ended up as, (my desktop with its archives is at the moment being 
> rebuilt), but if there are a sufficient number of us left it might be 
> possible to at least attempt some form of revival.
>
> Would all those who are still paying a membership subscription please make 
> themselves known?
>