[DotGNU]Special irc meeting (Re: *MAJOR* sponsor)

[Norbert Bollow]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

On Fri, 9 Apr 2004 I wrote:

> cds and I have met a major company this week which intends to
> use the runtime and System.Windows.Forms of DotGNU Portable.NET

Here's an update on these matters... first of all in the meantime
they've given me explicit permission to mention their name, it's
TRUMPF Laser GmbH + Co KG.  They sell lasers, e.g. machines for
cutting and welding for the automobile industry.  For more details
you can refer to their website at http://www.trumpf-laser.com/

One *major* piece of good news is that it has turned out that they
will be able to give, to those DotGNU developers who will work on
making things work for them, the code that needs to work on DotGNU
simply under the terms of international copyright law (specifically,
the Berne convention) without requiring any NDA (Non-Disclosure
Agreement) which goes beyond that.  That's very good news because
NDAs and the community process of Free Software development don't
mix well - for example an NDA would prevent open communication on
the #dotgnu irc channel about what needs to be done.  In addition,
there are ethical concerns and legal risks with NDAs which, as it
has turned out, can be elegantly avoided in this project.

Some #dotgnu channel regulars have already met Rainer Thieringer
(irc nick: ray-t), the head of the software development department
at TRUMPF Laser.  DotGNU'ers in Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia
will have a good opportunity to meet him and ask questions about
Trumpf's planned use of DotGNU at the following special DotGNU irc
meeting:

  Sat May 1 08.00 UTC (in Australia this is Fri evening)

At this meeting we will also discuss moving forward with getting
this project started.

I'm sorry that this is not a good time in American timezones.
I don't know how much interest there is in holding a second, similar
meeting at a more America-friendly time.  Could DotGNU'ers with
strong interest in that please email me privately?

Greetings,
Norbert.


P.S. The regular DotGNU irc meeting at 10.00 UTC has not been
     cancelled.  I'd like our regular meetings to continue so
     that we also have a time to discuss DotGNU stuff which is
     not directly related to the sponsor's needs.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.2.4 (GNU/Linux)

iD8DBQFAksPloYIVvXUl7DIRAhDUAKCBYoMStkA7+IifNPeBL4l2l/qFpACgrXEJ
soyLf3whu1s7xLXdpY1yxN8=
=go4b
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----