SPI Update for Debian

[John Goerzen]

Hello,

I would like to provide a brief SPI update for you.  I hope to send a
similar update on an approximately quarterly basis.  Representatives
originating from other SPI member projects are also encouraged to send
similar updates to their projects.

About SPI
---------
Software in the Public Interest, Inc., is a non-profit organization that
supports Free Software projects.  It was originally created to support
Debian, and Debian remains by far the largest SPI member project.  SPI
is the legal entity that receives and disburses Debian funds, holds
Debian copyrights and trademarks, etc.

Annual Meeting
--------------
The SPI annual meeting was held on July 1.  SPI President Ean Schuessler
and Secretary Wichert Akkerman's terms on the Board were expiring, so
new elections were called.  An annual report process was started as
well.  M. Drew Streib was removed from the board at the annual meeting
due to the board meeting attendance policy.  SPI passed a resolution in
support of Software Freedom Day.

Board Elections
---------------
On July 29, the results of the recent SPI board member elections were
announced[1].  Well-known Debian developers Bdale Garbee and Branden
Robinson were elected to a 3-year term on the SPI Board.

Yesterday, the new Board met for the first time and selected[2] the
officers for SPI.  They are: President, John Goerzen; Vice President,
Benjamin Mako Hill; Treasurer, Jimmy Kaplowitz; and Secretary, David Graham.

Annual Report
-------------
The SPI annual report is being prepared.  Draft versions are available from:

http://master-www.complete.org/~jgoerzen/spi.pdf
http://master-www.complete.org/~jgoerzen/spi.html

If you have any changes or suggestions, they should be sent to
spi-general at lists.spi-inc.org immediately.

Other Recent Business
---------------------
The board also passed resolutions laying out a framework for SPI-related
projects and regular annual board member elections.  

Getting Involved
----------------
All Debian developers automatically satisfy the criteria for being a
contributing member of SPI.  As a contributing member, you:

 * Can vote in SPI elections

 * Can vote for resolutions put to the membership

Information is available from: http://www.spi-inc.org/membership

Anyone, regardless of membership status, is welcome to participate in
SPI mailing lists.  spi-general and spi-announce are the two most likely
to be relevant.  You can learn about SPI lists at
http://lists.spi-inc.org.

I encourage Debian developers to get involved with SPI.  There are a
number of important discussions that go on there, many of which involve
Debian in various ways.

Feedback
--------
Let me know what you'd like to see in an update from SPI (or even if
you'd like to see them at all), where you'd like to see them, etc.

References
----------
[1] http://lists.spi-inc.org/pipermail/spi-announce/2004/000087.html
[2] http://lists.spi-inc.org/pipermail/spi-announce/2004/000089.html

Thanks,

John Goerzen