How does SPI differ from SFC?

[MJ Ray]

"Michael Renzmann" <mrenzmann at madwifi.org> wrote: [...]
> As far as I could find out by now, it seems to me that SPI and SFC offer
> pretty similar services to its members. One difference I can see is the
> option to accept (tax-deductible?) donations through partners in Germany,
> Italy and Canada (on SPI's side), while SFC so far "only" has accounts in
> the US. Are there other important differences that I might have missed?

I'm not sure, but SFC's pumping of itself as a liability protection
makes it sound like they have taken out insurance, although I can't
find any details of it.  On the other hand, they might just be
describing the nature of a corporation.  I'd ask about that if I were
you, especially with a project like madwifi which seems riskier than
most, to see if there is a real difference there.

I think it's a little disappointing that the SFC web site is under a
non-free-software licence, with anti-commercial no-derivs terms
(although now I notice that SPI's web site copyright terms appear to
be missing, at least since the last redesign... oops?).

> What "unique selling point(s)" do you see for SPI in comparisson to the SFC?

I feel SPI compares well with SFC, which appears to be tied to the
SFLC, self-perpetuating and has published only news releases so far:
no details of board discussions.  Instead, SPI is autonomous,
member-controlled and has a proven track record of making its
proceedings public, through news releases, minutes and annual reports,
as well as giving greater detail to members.

Competition is healthy, but why did SFLC start the SFC?
The stated reason "to provide free financial and administrative
services for a collection of FOSS projects through a single entity"
seems bogus: SPI already provided that.  What is SFC's USP?

Disclosure: I'm a contributing member of SPI and a rejected board
candidate.  I have no involvement in SFC that I'm aware of.

Best wishes,
-- 
MJ Ray http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html tel:+844-4437-237 -
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