Today, the OpenSimulator developers (including me!) are pleased to announce that we are setting up the Overte Foundation, a non-profit organization for OpenSimulator and potentially other open-source virtual environment projects and components.
One of the main reasons for creating such a foundation is so that we can drop the 6 month contribution barrier between OpenSimulator and Linden Lab viewer/Third Party Viewer developers. The plan is to establish a Contributor’s License Agreement (CLA) for OpenSimulator whereby code contributors (including core developers) will explicitly assign a copyright license to the foundation. Thus, the foundation will become the distributor of the OpenSimulator project and be able to deal with any code origin or other issues should they ever arise.
Please note that this is a copyright license rather than copyright assignment – all contributors will retain ownership of their own code. I think that the CLA we end up with likely to be very similar to Apache’s.
The other main reason for setting up the Overte Foundation is to support and promote OpenSimulator in the long term. There is also an opportunity to incorporate other projects and a broader range of community members rather than just developers.
For much more extensive details please see the OpenSimulator mailing lists discussion or the much more succinct public statement and FAQ.
[...] “One of the main reasons for creating such a foundation is so that we can drop the six month contribution barrier between OpenSimulator and Linden Lab viewer or third party viewer developers,” said OpenSim core developer Justin Clark-Casey in an announcement today. [...]
This is great news – and another step in the right direction.
And congratulations to your position!
Best,
Dirk
I hate to say it but seems to me it’s long over due given that so many contributions to the code that had to be rejected could have helped speed up development of Opensim and possibly avoided branching of the code into other forked developments. Anyway, I wish the foundation every success.
this is huge and may i ask for one thing?
a donate PayPal button?
the one on OpenSimulator.org has not worked in a year!!! i know because i try and it says the attached account can not receive funds!
[...] read about it on Justin’s blog and the official notice on OpenSim and join me in my frenzied-running-around-screaming excitment! [...]
Thanks guys.
@Ener – that old link was taken down some time ago now (if not, then please let me know!). We will establish a new link once the Overte Foundation bank account is set up. This might take a short while since various folks are on holiday right now.
This is important news. All the great open-source software projects have an associated nonprofit foundation (e.g. Apache, Mozilla, WordPress, Drupal). The absence of a foundation, and the reluctance to set one up, was a big reason I wasn’t taking OpenSim very seriously. That changes now.
A note on donations: People won’t be able to get tax deductions on donations until the foundation’s IRS application gets approved. The new foundation will still be able to accept donations; they just won’t be tax-deductible.
A good book to check out: How to Form a Nonprofit Corporation, by Anthony Mancuso, published by Nolo. “Get step-by-step instructions for obtaining federal 501(c)(3) tax exemption and qualifying for public charity status with the IRS.” Mancuso is an attorney and the book is updated regularly.
well i know im for getting rid of the 6-month rule. i want meshes and 4k x 4k now!! and a few other things, like a strip down client.
[...] The OpenSim software inching ever closer to full release status and the founding of the Overte Foundation point to exciting times ahead for all explorers and developers of OpenSim worlds. Related [...]
[...] plan to establish a Contributor’s License Agreement for OpenSimulator that I wrote about previously is now complete. You can read more details on the OpenSimulator Contributions Policy wiki page, [...]