[Sugar-devel] Sugar upstreaming strategy and Activity Central upstreaming work

[Sridhar Dhanapalan]

On 11 December 2011 05:26, Chris Leonard <cjlhomeaddress at gmail.com> wrote:
> Pablo, I want to thank you for openly communicating about the
> challenges you face in you new role as CEO of Activity Central
> (congrats again).  From my own personal perspective, I see the
> emergence of separate entities like AC that seek to develop
> sustainable business models from supporting Sugar as a positive
> development.  Sugar Labs is producing a core toolset, but reaching for
> a worldwide audience, the tools are designed for local appropriation
> and mass customization (not one-size-fits-all), but Sugar Labs cannot
> "do it all".  There may occasionally be "perceived"
> resource-competition conflicts that come from a particularly talented
> contributor being attracted by the opportunity to earn money for their
> skills, but I believe that those "conflicts" are illusory and can be
> dispelled by clear communication.  I do believe that in the long run,
> simply seeing the possibility of turning Sugar development skills into
> an income stream (typically after a long unpaid apprenticeship as a
> volunteer) will ultimately serve to bring new resources into the
> community, as well as preserve the availability of talents of
> long-time contributors who might otherwise be forced to seek income in
> other positions that would leave them with little time to contribute
> to Sugar.

+1

OLPC Australia have been partnered with Activity Central for about six
months now, and a major focus of our development recently has been to
improve relations with Sugar upstream. I've been working closely with
Pablo and others on the AC team on issues like this, and it's great to
see some constructive discussion happen on the lists.

This is an ongoing process and will take time and effort to see
through, but the potential returns for Sugar as a whole are enormous.

Sridhar


Sridhar Dhanapalan
Engineering Manager
One Laptop per Child Australia