[OpenAFS] Re: [OpenAFS-devel] An open letter from the OpenAFS Council of Elders

[Steve Simmons]

On May 11, 2008, at 1:37 PM, Rodney M. Dyer wrote:

> At 11:42 AM 5/11/2008, Esther Filderman wrote:
>>
>> As it's own 501c3 corporation OpenAFS would be able to accept
>> donations without a third party, something that would probably make  
>> it
>> easier -- and more comfortable -- for many sites to do.   
>> Additionally,
>> there are resources that neither company can always directly provide,
>> especially things like hardware.
>
> I have personally donated to OpenAFS, but quite simply, as I am not  
> independently wealthy, my donation isn't worth more than a few hours  
> of consulting.  My point was that if any IT shops are like ours, we  
> can't just "donate" money.  Especially as a state funded  
> institution, we can only "buy" products or services that fulfill our  
> needs.

We're a state-funded institution as well, so 501c(3) for OpenAFS  
doesn't mean that much to us. But it can make a big, big difference  
for corporations or individuals donating funds or equipment. If I had  
enough bucks  in my pocket to pay for, say, the native windows client  
implementation, I'd save 35% by giving to the foundation rather than  
paying SN/etc. As a corporation (say, Sun, IBM, HP) I'd get pretty  
much nothing by giving hardware to SN or an individual. By donating it  
to the 501, I can deduct the cost. Ditto for donating my proprietary  
OS software that I'd like to have AFS work correctly on.

Steve