Candidates for the GNOME Foundation 2000 Elections

Oct 26, 2000

Below you will find a list of candidates who are running for the GNOME Foundation Board of Directors. A short summary statement from each candidate and a link to their full candidacy announcement is provided to help you learn more about them. We encourage all voters to read the full candidacy statements and related discussions on foundation-list@gnome.org.

When deciding who you should vote for, please carefully consider the various tasks the Board of Directors must perform. This overview may be helpful. Keep in mind that the board will make a number of important decisions and will also have to perform many tasks which require a significant amount of time and effort and the ability to work and communicate with other people, companies, and the media. The board of directors will represent GNOME to companies and the world in a very real way. It is a good idea to strive for a well-balanced board consisting of people with various backgrounds, skills, and perspectives.

Additional elections details can be found on the GNOME Foundation Web Site.

If you have any questions, please send them to either foundation-list@gnome.org or to us at elections@gnome.org.

Candidates for the GNOME Foundation Board of Directors

1. MARTIN BAULIG. "I'm a 24 years old student and working for SuSE on GNOME. * Gnome-libs 2.0 - it is very important to be attractive to developers of other Free Software, to have well-designed, well-documented APIs which are a pleasure to use. * GNOME is official part of the GNU Project and it becomes more and more important to know where we're coming from and to stick to our roots. * Doing Talks and Shows in Germany." Affiliated with SuSE. Full statement at http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2000-October/msg00076.html.

2. CHEMA CELORIO. "I have been doing unpaid work for GNOME on a daily basis for the last year. Mainly in gedit and gnome-print. And I LOVE IT ! I have developed very good personal relationships with different members of the GNOME community. I want GNOME to remain a community effort, a fun project to work on and a project that has healthy relationships with the companies it interacts with. I want GNOME to continue being widely open to new contributors." Full statement at http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2000-October/msg00056.html.

3. KENNETH CHRISTIANSEN. "I will work on making Gnome work better with internationalization, so that people in non-english speaking countries can start using Gnome for real. This requires a lot of work, and everyone in the Gnome community will have to settle on some common guidelines for dealing with this. Due to my long involvement in Gnome Translation Project I have quite some idea of how we can do this, and is personally interested in working hard for archieving this. No corporate affiliations!" Full statement at http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2000-October/msg00067.html.

4. RHETT CREIGHTON. "I am a Jr. undergrad student at MIT, and I'd like to see Gnome succeed, like all of you. If I win, I don't promise to do a better job than most of you could do, but I do promise to do it while eating a truckload of bananas. Really, I want to use the position to impress chicks, I mean, help guide the direction of Gnome toward what I think will make it the ideal computing platform.". Full statement at http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2000-October/msg00237.html.

5. BART DECREM. "As the Foundation's coordinator, I have helped build a structure that maintains the power in GNOME with the hackers while providing ways for corporate partners to have their voice heard. I see my role as a facilitator who ensures that the foundation will function in an open and effective manner, and to help bring corporate partners on board who will bring GNOME to many millions of new users without violating our principles." Affiliated with Eazel. Full statement at http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2000-October/msg00047.html.

6. MIGUEL DE ICAZA. Co-founder of the GNOME project; one of the principal contributors to gnome-libs, Bonobo, and Gnumeric, among many other modules; currently serves on the board of directors of the Free Software Foundation; pushed to create both the interim Steering Committee and the GNOME Foundation: sees his role in the foundation as "to continue doing the same work I have been doing for free software and GNOME in the future, with the backup of the Foundation." Affiliated with Helix Code. Full statement at http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2000-October/msg00194.html.

7. CHRISTOPHER GABRIEL. "I'm a 22 years old fellow born in Italy. * Completely dedicated to free software, following GNOME since some times in the first few months. * No affiliation with any company making money from GNOME. * Official maintainer of GNU packages. * Largely responsible for much of the free software grass-roots community effort in Italy. Having me on the board, you will have someone who will remind other board members of the importance of things." Full statement at http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2000-October/msg00064.html.

8. JUANTOMAS GARCIA. Spent last three years promoting GNU/Linux and free software in Spain, to companies and the Spanish government, among others: "GNOME needs more than code, it needs lots of input and work on and over it... The board needs to have a real criticism from the inside that's brave enough to point out whatever is wrong with GNOME... I'm Spanish and European (and very proud of it) and Europe needs more GNOME action indeed." Full statement at http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2000-October/msg00077.html.

9. JIM GETTYS. Co-wrote X Window System, upon which GNOME is built; currently pushing Linux and X on handhelds. Experience with X Consortium, W3C, IETF. Worked on the GNOME Foundation announcement and startup this summer: "In short, I'd really like to see open source desktops succeed. Interoperability is a key to this, and applications (both open source and commercial) are another. We MUST avoid the GUI wars that crippled UNIX desktops in the 1980's to change the world." Affiliated with Compaq. Full statement at http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2000-October/msg00193.html.

10. BERTRAND GUIHENEUF. "I am CEO of Henzai, Paris, a company dedicated to making Gnome the standard GUI for small Internet Appliances. I am co-maintainer of gnome-objc but was more known to have started Evolution, in particular the camel library. My job at Henzai gives me particular skills for project managment. Once on the board I want to push the creation of the European foundation. I also plan to lobby for a complete cross-platform Gnome." Affiliated with Henzai. Full statement at http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2000-October/msg00062.html.

11. THOMPSON HAYNER. "I am an independent thinker. I make my living charging high fees to companies to run web-based free software for them (primarily Latin American hospitals). I invest half my money primarily in underprized fiber optic companies, give myself an allowance of $64,000 a year, and give the rest to various charities, and do Random Acts of Kindness (for example, recently hired an attorney to help a Vietnamenese girl I barely know fight to bring her brother and sister over)." Full statement at http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2000-October/msg00143.html.

12. JOHN HEARD. "jheard@eng.sun.com. Initiated and manage the Sun GNOME Project; initiated and manage the OpenOffice.org initiative and making it a fully integrated part of the GNOME Office suite; working to establish the GNOME Accessibility project; participant in the establishment of the GNOME Foundation on behalf of the Sun GNOME team, working closely with quite a few GNOME members; a 14+ year open systems "bigot" in Sun (with T-shirts to prove it :-))." Affiliated with Sun Microsystems. Full statement at http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2000-October/msg00221.html.

13. JAMES HENSTRIDGE. "I am from Australia and have been hacking on GNOME since 1998. I have worked on various parts of GNOME ranging from some of the base libraries used by many applications to language bindings (python) to applications (dia). I hope to represent these views on the foundation board. I am a member of the current GNOME Steering Committee. I am not currently employed by any GNOME company at present -- I am a student finishing off my honours year." Full statement at http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2000-October/msg00053.html.

14. KEVIN KNERR. "Is a GNOME user and contributor (AquaX, sawfish lisplets, etc.) * has nearly 25 years experience w/ computing (programming, system administration, tech support, data processing) * is experienced in the administrative tasks the Board will perform * is committed to GNOME and Free Software, and wishes to see GNOME flourish in the midst of commercial software * has no corporate affiliation with GNOME (employed in tech support for an ISP that won't support Linux)." Full statement at http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2000-October/msg00063.html.

15. TUOMAS KUOSMANEN. "I have been involved in the GNOME community from the very beginning, working on the user interface. I have very big interest in making the GNOME friendly and easy for both new and experienced users. This is not easy, but I still want to offer my help and try my best. I have good relationships towards others and I try to live in peace with different kinds of people. They say I have good patience." Affiliated with Helix Code. Full statement at http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2000-October/msg00204.html.

16. GEORGE LEBL. "I am George (Jiri in Czech) Lebl. I am a long time GNOME developer, and maintainer of gnome-core, gnome-applets, pong, gob, grapevine, dr-genius, and have hacked on many other things including gnome-libs. I'm an undergraduate at SDSU trying to finish a CS and a Math degree, and have a part time position at Eazel. I'm also a half member of the interim GNOME steering comittee. cHickeN ChIckeN ChIckeN ChIckeN ChIckeN cHicKeN ChickEn ChickEn ChickEn ChicKEn." Affiliated with Eazel. Full statement at http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2000-October/msg00025.html.

17. ELLIOT LEE. "You, the people who have made GNOME happen, deserve the best possible help in getting GNOME where you want it to go. Using my knowledge of software development and project coordination, my goal will be to help you out with all the distractions, problems, and boring work that GNOME and its foundation need doing, so that you can focus on having fun contributing." Affiliated with Red Hat. http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2000-October/msg00222.html.

18. RAPH LEVIEN. "I am Raph Levien, author of Libart and current maintainer of Ghostscript. I've been involved in Gnome since the beginning, particularly in areas of 2D graphics and imaging. I do consulting through my company, artofcode LLC, including work for Eazel, and commercial licensing of Ghostscript, but consider myself a strong independent voice against corporate interests. I did not invent the Internet, but did take the initiative in developing it to its current degenerated state." Affiliated with Eazel. Full statement at http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2000-October/msg00220.html.

19. KJARTAN MARAAS. "My name is Kjartan Maraas and I have been involved with the GNOME project since late 1997. I'm Norwegian and translations was what got me tangled up in this project. Since march this year I have been a member of the steering committee as coordinator of GNOME's internationalization project, and this area is what I'd spend my time working on improving if I were to be elected for the board." Full statement at http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2000-October/msg00197.html.

20. MICHAEL MEEKS. "Having enjoyed working with many Gnome contributors, I would be delighted to represent their interests on the board. * Soon Bonobo ( which I help maintain ) will be everywhere and vital to the Gnome release schedule, as well as to everyone building on it. * I have loved presenting the ethics of free software and selling the Gnome vision to many different groups of people at various conferences. * I will push what is best for Gnome, over HelixCode." Affiliated with Helix Code. Full statement at http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2000-October/msg00078.html.

21. DAN MUETH. "I am the GNOME Documentation Project coordinator and a steering committee member. I have a strong personal interest in seeing GNOME succeed and providing users with a powerful, easy-to-use free desktop. As a boardmember I will: (1)Ensure GNOME leverages the contributions of individuals and corporations to produce the best desktop possible. (2)Identify and address GNOME's weaknesses. (3)Improve communication with other projects, corporations, and the public. After finishing my physics PhD I will work at Eazel." Affiliated with Eazel. Full statement at http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2000-October/msg00071.html.

22. ESKIL HEYN OLSEN. "I'm Eskil, one of the two gnome-pilot maintainers (meaning I've been hacking gnome since June 1998), Being snatched up by Eazel, I moved from Denmark to USA, and therefore now hack Nautilus related stuff fulltime. Other merits must speak for themselves." Affiliated with Eazel. Full statement at http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2000-October/msg00069.html.

23. HAVOC PENNINGTON. "My goal as a GNOME hacker is to make free OS's a viable alternative for all users. At Red Hat Labs our job is to make sure the Linux development platform facilitates that. On the board, I'd like to work on infrastructure to make the project run more smoothly: bug tracking, roadmaps, task lists, communication between maintainers. I want to see GNOME get bigger, better, and more fun, always remaining focused on technical excellence." Affiliated with Red Hat. Full statement at http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2000-October/msg00058.html.

24. ETTORE PERAZZOLI. "Who: Hacker, Project Manager for Evolution. Other major contributions: gnome-libs, Bonobo, gnome-vfs, Nautilus. Contributor since pre-1.0. * Program: Make GNOME a successful standard without betraying the original ideals. Convey energy from all the various parties involved, making sure the commercial needs of the companies involved don't cripple the technical qualities. Pay attention to the needs of hackers, to make sure the fun factor isn't lost. Value volunteer contributions. Make GNOME a success outside the US." Affiliated with Helix Code. Full statement at http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2000-October/msg00131.html.

25. BRUCE PERENS. "Please read http://www.perens.com/Bio.html and other material at www.Perens.com to learn who I am and how I have helped Free Software since 1987 and Unix since 1981. The board should leave GNOME's technical direction to the developers. As a GNOME Foundation director, I plan to concentrate on: Soliciting for government and corporate grants to fund Free Software development, _especially_documentation_. Building relationships between business and Free Software. Public Relations and Publicity. Getting people to release more code!" Full statement at http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2000-October/msg00022.html.

26. LESLIE PROCTOR. "I oversaw PR for the GNOME launch in 1999. My efforts resulted in NY Times, Wired, Newsweek, etc. articles. I've conducted media relations for GNOME at subsequent conferences and ongoing, as needed. I coordinated the FSF/GNOME booths at every LinuxWorld Expo, among others - on a shoestring budget. I'm a senior resource executive at Alexander Ogilvy PR, a top-tier agency. I offer strategic direction to account teams across three different agencies. I can bring PR, marketing and conferences/events expertise." Full statement at http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2000-October/msg00236.html.

27. FEDERICO MENA QUINTERO. Co-founder of the GNOME project; maintained the GIMP, split off GTK+ from the GIMP for use in other applications (including GNOME); wrote large portions of the GNOME libraries (including the GNOME Canvas), the original GNOME Panel, gnomecal, GMC; currently maintain parts of gnome-libs, gdk-pixbuf, EOG, the GNOME Programming Guidelines, and the Evolution calendar; "I have given several GNOME-related talks at local and international conferences."; "I am neurotic about software and documentation quality." Affiliated with Helix Code. Full statement at http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2000-October/msg00140.html.

28. ARIEL RIOS. Currently maintain gnome-guile, guile-gtk, galway, glibwwww, gnumeric guile plugin; has given numerous speeches advocating GNOME and Free Software in Canada, USA, and Mexico: "I am from Mexico so I can represent the Hispanoamerican region... I do not work for any corporation and I wish to represent no other interests besides GNOME and those of Free Software. I do believe in freedom and equality among all of the members of the GNOME community." Full statement at http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2000-October/msg00160.html.

29. ARLO ROSE. "I'm the Human Interface lead for the Nautilus project, and am in the process of forming a GNOME HI group that will raise community and developer awareness of usability and visual issues with GNOME projects. I'd like to have a seat on the board so I can strengthen awareness for good human interface design, raise the standards for the GNOME desktop look and feel, and act as the voice for usability issues in our community." Affiliated with Eazel. Full statement at http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2000-October/msg00219.html.

30. JOE SHAW. "I have been involved in the GNOME community from the start, contributing to several modules. I'm the maintainer of Achtung and author of Helix's installer and updater. I'm outspoken against corporate dominance of the foundation, but know they need to be well-represented. I feel that the board needs a good hacker/non-hacker mix. GNOME needs to become more aggressive with its conference/show policies and GNOME 2.0 development needs to take hold now." Affiliated with Helix Code. Full statement at http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2000-October/msg00060.html.

31. MACIEJ STACHOWIAK. "While I have hacked on many free software projects (most notably Nautilus, see http://advogato.org/person/mjs for others), I think the strongest qualifications I have are non-technical. First, I have a talent for making processes more transparent, as with my work on GNOME 1.4 coordiation. Second, I am good at communicating both inside and outside the project. Finally, I believe in free software, openness and honesty, and I'm willing to stand up to anyone for these beliefs." Affiliated with Eazel. http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2000-October/msg00024.html.

32. OWEN TAYLOR. "As co-maintainer of GTK+ and the designer of Pango, I think I'm in a good position to handle coordination of GNOME with these important core technologies. I also have a strong interest in language bindings and component technology, as represented by the CORBA::ORBit Perl bindings for CORBA. If I am elected to the board, I will continue to push GNOME in the areas of internationalization and an easy-to-use development platform." Affiliated with Red Hat. http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2000-October/msg00049.html.

33. DANIEL VEILLARD. "I am French, a long time Gnomer and Linux addict, the maintainer of libxml and rpmfind. I work for W3C and I am used to non-profit organizations and the negociations needed to get a group to reach consensus. I will focuse on the reuse of standards, internationalization and keeping trust relationship at an individual level. I think those are needed to keep hacking on gnome fun and getting acceptance in new communities." Affiliated with W3C. Full candidacy statement at http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2000-October/msg00093.html.

Additional Elections-related Information

Anyone who's contributed to GNOME (beyond just being a user or occasional bug-filer) may participate in the elections. To register this vote, send e-mail to elections@gnome.org with your name, email address, and a short list of how you contributed to GNOME. [eg: Havoc Pennington (GConf, GTK+, gnome-libs, odd jobs)]. The deadline to register to vote is Monday, October 30.

Ballots will be sent out via e-mail to everyone who's registered to vote on Wednesday, November 1st, to the address provided with registration. If you need to change the address to which you want your ballot sent, please contact elections@gnome.org as soon as possible. People will vote by returning the ballot via e-mail. A public archive of the ballot returns will be available after the elections end on November 8th.

Also, keep in mind that there is a 4-person maximum on the number of people affiliated with any one company that can be on the board: if more than 4 persons from one company get elected, only the top 4 vote getters will get on. You will be able to vote for up to 11 candidates of your choice, with no restrictions, except that you cannot vote more than once for the same candidate.

Additional elections-related materials are available the GNOME Foundation Web Site.