Thursday, March 19, 2015

Team Proposal 3: Lantern

This time mstubinis and I are tackling the Lantern Project

Team Proposal

mstubinis - mst6119@rit.edu - Lead
Pharas - bke2759@rit.edu - Documentation

Organization:
Lantern

Description of the Organization?
Works with NASA to bring free internet to the world

Description of the project?
Project to bring the internet to everyone in the world

Describe each team member's role?
mstubinis - Research director
Pharas - Documentation

Organization/Project Source Code Repository URL?
Doesn't really have one

Upstream:

We will be looking into contacting someone from Lantern, but we may not get any feedback

How will you communicate with them?
Probably via Email or IRC depending on their preferred method

What do you anticipate the easy parts will be?
  • Write up
  • Compiling information after contact is acquired
What do you anticipate the hard parts will be?
  • Getting Contacts
  • Communication with contact
How will you overcome both?
We will have a long time to go over the information, so we should be fine

If something goes wrong, what contingencies do you have in place?
There are two people in the group, so if something happens to one of us, the other will be there to pic up the torch.
Should we be unable to get a contact, we can still try to scour the net online

When will your group meet regularly outside of class time?
We have a week to talk back and forth about what we are doing.

Business Legal Profile 1: Free Software Foundation

I figured I might as well upload all of the profiles that we write up and post them here. This one was worked on by myself, mstubinis, chrisknepper, beruberufunbot, and Joe Trotta

Free Software Foundation Profile

Joe Trotta, Michael Tubinis, Brian Escriche, Chris Knepper, Derin Yarsuvat

Rationale

We chose to look at the Free Software Foundation, partly because of Mr. Knepper’s interest in the organization and their overarching principles.

Organizational Details

  1. Is the subject of your profile a corporate entity?
    Yes, surprisingly!
  2. What type?
    501(c)(3) non-profit organization
  3. When was it founded?
    October 4, 1985
  4. By whom?
    Richard Matthew Stallman
  5. Original founder(s) still active?
    Yes, rms is the current President of the FSF
  6. Publicly Traded?
    Nope, and their legal status is “Foundation”
  7. Has the company made any acquisitions?
    Not technically an acquisition, but one of the reasons it was founded was to continue development of the GNU Project created by its founder, Richard Stallman, which it continues to sponsor.
  8. Has the company made any investments in other companies? If yes, which ones.
    The 2013 Audited Financial Statement for the FSF shows they held $264,530 in investments for fiscal year 2013.
  9. Number of Employees?
    12, including rms. There are also 7 (not including rms) members on the FSF’s Board of Directors.
  10. Where is HQ?
    Boston, MA (51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor)
  11. Does it have any other offices or locations?
    No
  12. Does your organization file any annual reports?
    2013 990
    2013 Audited Financial Statement

Communications

  1. Does your subject participate in social media?
    Twitter: Here (Though it’s simply a mirror of their microblogging site)
    Blog: Here (Community)
    News: FSF RSS Feed
  2. What communication channels does your subject use to reach their public?
    Monthly Newsletter: The Free Software Supporter
    Chatroom (IRC): #libreplanet on FreeNode
    Official Blog: Here
  3. Does your subject organize or participate in any conferences? If so, list them here, and provide links to any relevant sessions, keynotes, or content.
    1. Annual conference: LibrePlanet

Community Architecture

Free Software Foundation: Coreboot

  1. If applicable, list and provide links to:
    1. The project's IRC Channel:
      #coreboot on Freenode
    2. Source Code repository
      git clone ssh://<username>@review.coreboot.org:29418/coreboot
      git clone http://[<username>:<password>@]review.coreboot.org/p/coreboot.git
      also take a look at http://review.coreboot.org/#/admin/projects/
    3. Mail list archive:
      http://www.coreboot.org/mailman/listinfo/coreboot
    4. Documentation:
      http://www.coreboot.org/Documentation
    5. Other communication channels:
      https://www.facebook.com/coreboot
    6. Project Website and/or Blog:
      http://www.coreboot.org/
      http://blogs.coreboot.org/

  1. Describe the software project, its purpose and goals.
    .Coreboot is a fast and flexible open source firmware aimed to replace the proprietary BIOS seen in most computers by running a lightweight boot process designed to run only the necessary tasks. It is endorsed by the FSF
  2. Give brief history of the project. When was the Initial Commit? The latest commit?
    April 15th, 2003. Project started in 1999. Wednesday March 18th at 11:41 AM
  3. Who approves patches? How many people?:
    Every developer can vote on what can be added. After the patch hits a specific threshold, then they will be added on their own. Certain developers have the ability to give enough votes to auto-merge a commit.
  4. Who has commit access, or has had patches accepted? How many total?;
  5. Has there been any turnover in the Core Team?:
    It doesn’t appear like there has been any
  6. Does the project have a BDFL, or Lead Developer?:
    Ron Minnich
  7. Are the front and back end developers the same people? What is the proportion of each?:
    The project is based around creating a Free BIOS, so there isn’t really a front-end to speak of.
  8. What have been some of the major bugs/problems/issues that have arisen during development?
    I got some help from kmalkki and he said my best bet is to disassemble the mrc blob. **** that. I know what's in it. It's ****.” ~In regards to porting a sandybridge board
  9. How is the project's participation trending and why?:
    The project looks fairly consistent in terms of participation across its commit history
  10. In your opinion, does the project pass "The Raptor Test?":
    Yes, as Ron doesn’t appear that active as a developer any more
  11. In your opinion, would the project survive if the core team, or most active 20% of contributors, were hit by a bus? Why or why not?:
    Due to how the team manages committing code and the general maturity of the project, the project looks like it would be fine.
  12. Does the project have an official "on-boarding" process in place?:
    http://www.coreboot.org/Developer_Manual
  13. Does the project have Documentation available? Is it extensive? Does it include code examples?:
    http://www.coreboot.org/Documentation
  14. If you were going to contribute to this project, but ran into trouble or hit blockers, who would you contact, and how?
    http://www.coreboot.org/FAQ
  15. Based on these answers, how would you describe the decision making structure/process of this group? Is it hierarchical, consensus building, ruled by a small group, barely contained chaos, or ruled by a single or pair of individuals?
    The entire project seems fairly communal, with a few people that serve as directional influences in which way the project should go

Technology/Product


  1. Who invented, created, or sponsored the technology?
    Endorsed by FSF; Led by Minnich.
  2. What is the technology designed to do? How is it used?
    Open source replacement of BIOS firmware that does only the bare minimum system setup necessary before handing off control to a bootloader, kernel, BIOS, or other ELF executable.
  3. Who would benefit from using this technology?
    Consumers interested in a completely open and libre system could benefit, but a mature coreboot could create benefits for players pretty much everywhere in the computer manufacturing market as well.
  4. What kinds of companies or organizations (stakeholders) might have been concerned about the development of this technology? Why?
    Companies like American Megatrends and other BIOS chip providers might be concerned, because the software serves as a replacement for the software they provide on their chips.
  5. Does/Did an aspect of copyright law play a role in controversies about the technology? How?
    No major controversies regarding this software yet, to our knowledge.  

Business Legal Profile 0: Canonical / Ubuntu

Dropping a copy of the profile that mstubinis and I worked on into the blog as I feel like it might be of interest to have up here as well.

The Profile Subject

Canonical Ltd./ Ubuntu

Rationale


Pharas did not have a preference. I am starting my own linux project (a first) so I was looking at different distros. Ubuntu seemed to be the one I liked the most, so why not find more about it?

Organizational Details

  1. Is the subject of your profile a corporate entity?
    Canonical is a corporate entity (Canonical Ltd.)
  2. What type?
    It is a private company limited by shares
  3. When was it founded?
    It was founded on March 5th, 2004
  4. By whom?
    It was founded by Mark Shuttleworth
  5. Are they still active?
    He is still active within the company
  6. Publicly Traded?
    It is not publicly traded
  7. Has the company made any acquisitions?
    It has not made any acquisitions
  8. Has the company made any investments in other companies?
    There was no data pointing to having acquired acquisitions
  9. Number of Employees?
    Roughly 500 employees across 30 countries
  10. Where is HQ?
    HQ - 27th Floor, Millbank Tower 21-24 Millbank London, SW1P 4QP GBR
  11. Does it have any other offices or locations?
    Yes it has offices in London, Boston, Taipei, Montreal, Shanghai, São Paulo and the Isle of Man
  12. Does your organization file any annual reports?
    Annual Report (2013) - http://www.scribd.com/doc/199373896/Canonical-Group-Limited-Annual-Accounts-2013

Communications

  1. Does your subject participate in social media?
https://twitter.com/Canonical (841 Tweets, 564 Following, 32,000 Followers)
          https://plus.google.com/116469902245452284818/posts  (6475 followers,
125,973 page visits)

  1. What communication channels does your subject use to reach their public?
    Canonical keeps mostly to the social media listed above for anything not work related
  2. Does your subject organize or participate in any conferences?
    Ubuntu Developer Summit



    Community Architecture
  1. Distribution Channels
    1. The project's IRC Channel
http://loco.ubuntu.com/teams (irc in other languages)
    1. Source Code Repo
    1. Mail list archive
    1. Documentation
https://help.ubuntu.com/ (Older versions are no longer supported)
    1. Other communication channels
Primary communication appears to just be through the mailing lists and IRC channels. That and various wikis dedicated to specific projects.
    1. Project Website and/or Blog

  1. Describe the software project, its purpose and goals.
Ubuntu comes from the African word Ubuntu meaning 'humanity to others'. Ubuntu was founded in 2004 as a free and easy to use Linux Desktop that was designed to be part social and part economic: free software, available to everybody on the same terms, and funded through a portfolio of services provided by Canonical. (From the Wikipedia)
  1. Give brief history of the project. When was the Initial Commit? The latest commit?
The project started before the initial release on 20 October 2004 (Warty Warthog Release). Ubuntu's latest release was on April 23, 2014 (Utopic Unicorn Release).
  1. Who approves patches? How many people?
https://launchpad.net/~techboard/+members As far as we can tell, which is 7.
  1. Who has commit access, or has had patches accepted? How many total?
While the number is undoubtedly large, Ubuntu doesn’t have the information readily available to view. This is also tempered by which project you want to look at specifically.
  1. Has there been any turnover in the Core Team?
It doesn’t look like the team has changed all that much, at least according to https://launchpad.net/~techboard/+members
  1. Does the project have a BDFL, or Lead Developer?
Mark Shuttleworth seems like as good a candidate as any.
  1. Are the front and back end developers the same people? What is the proportion of each?
    While possible, it is doubtful that they are considering the amount of people using Ubuntu. It is more likely that there is more developing for the back-end though.
  2. What have been some of the major bugs/problems/issues that have arisen during development? Who is responsible for quality control and bug repair?
    There is very little forward facing information from Ubuntu, so it is hard to find anything concrete without delving into the mailing lists surrounding different project aspects.
  3. How is the project's participation trending and why?
Ubuntu is fairly popular, mostly because of how they do business and the thoroughness that they have with their product
  1. In your opinion, does the project pass "The Raptor Test?"Why or why not?
Yes, Ubuntu is backed by a huge, globe-spanning corporation and thousands, if not millions, of users.
  1. In your opinion, would the project survive if the core team, or most active 20% of contributors, were hit by a bus? Why or why not?
Yes, Ubuntu is backed by a huge, globe-spanning corporation and thousands, if not millions, of users.
  1. Does the project have an official "on-boarding" process in place?
  1. Does the project have Documentation available? Is it extensive? Does it include code examples?
There appears to be documentation for every project they have, with documentation even about adding to their documentation. There are code examples.
  1. If you were going to contribute to this project, but ran into trouble or hit blockers, who would you contact, and how?
Depends entirely on which part you would be contributing to, as there are so many different IRCs, mailing lists, and wikis that are all organized by different people.
  1. Based on these answers, how would you describe the decision making structure/process of this group? Is it hierarchical, consensus building, ruled by a small group, barely contained chaos, or ruled by a single or pair of individuals?
It is entirely dependant on which project you are talking about, as the core Ubuntu project seems to be headed by the previously mentioned group of 7, but smaller divisions are present and dedicated to different aspects of the experience.
  1. Is this the kind of structure you would enjoy working in? Why, or why not?
Brian: Its hard to tell, since it seems equally split between being the sort of job where you go into work and one where it is contribue as you feel. I’m sure actually working at Canonical would probably be a more standard office job though, so meh?

Technology/Product

  1. Who invented, created, or sponsored the technology?
Landscape (Product). Landscape was created by Canonical.
  1. What was the technology designed to do? How was it used?
    Landscape is designed to assist in monitoring, managing, and updating an entire Ubuntu infrastructure from one single interface.
  2. Who would benefit from using this technology?
Server owners/administrators, IT managers, and similar people who are in charge of the infrastructure or a part of it would benefit from using this product.
  1. What kinds of companies or organizations (stakeholders) might have been concerned about the development of this technology? Why?
Since landscape is supposed to work mainly with Ubuntu, it would not be a direct conflict with other operating systems. Therefore only companies who are developing a similar kind of technology for Ubuntu, or developers of other distros that are in competition with Ubuntu would be concerned with the development of this technology from a business standpoint.
  1. Did an aspect of copyright law play a role in controversies about the technology? How?

Since the product is mostly limited as to what it can be used for, I don’t think it had any aspects of law or copyright law coming into question or being violated.