File contents

15:00 < bdale> *GAVEL*
15:00 < Hydroxide> go!
15:00 < bdale> [item 1, Opening] Welcome to today's Software in the Public Interest board of directors meeting, which is now called to order.
15:00 < bdale> Today's agenda and details of pending resolutions can be found on the web at: http://www.spi-inc.org/secretary/agenda/2008/2008-10-15.html
15:00 < bdale> [item 2, Roll Call]
15:00 < bdale> Board members, please state your name for the record.  As we have nine board members, quorum for today's meeting is six.
15:00 < bdale> Guests (including board advisors), please /msg your names to Hydroxide if you wish your attendance to be recorded in the minutes of this meeting.
15:00 < bdale> Jimmy, any regrets recorded?
15:00 < schultmc> Michael Schultheiss
15:00 < bdale> Bdale Garbee
15:00 < cdlu> David Graham
15:00 < zobel> Martin Zobel-Helas
15:00 < Hydroxide> you're all early
15:00 < Hydroxide> no roll call yet
15:00 < Hydroxide> Jimmy Kaplowitz
15:00 < Hydroxide> :)
15:00 < Hydroxide> bdale: the one regret is as per the agenda
15:00 < cdlu> ?
15:00 < schultmc> Hydroxide: keep up :P
15:00 < bdale> Neil
15:00 < Hydroxide> oh, that scrolled past really quickly. ok :)
15:01 < luk_> Luk Claes
15:01 < bdale> great, quorum!
15:01  * bdale waits a sec in case anyone else wants to chime in... Ganneff?
15:01 < zobel> bdale: Ganneff sent regrets IIRC
15:02 < bdale> ah, ok
15:02 < bdale> who else are we missing?
15:02 < Hydroxide> oh right, he did, just before the meeting
15:02 < zobel> Message-ID: <87iqruc4l0.fsf@delenn.ganneff.de>
15:02 < schultmc> Josh Drake
15:02 < schultmc> he dropped offline a few minutes before the meeting
15:03 < bdale> he was around earlier, but I don't see him online now... ok, let's continue
15:03 < bdale> [item 3, President's Report]
15:03 < bdale> I provided a brief report on activity relating to the Open Voting Forum for inclusion in agenda and minutes.
15:03 < bdale> reload the agenda page for the text
15:03 < Hydroxide> see agenda everyone, and ask questions
15:03 < Hydroxide> (if you have them)
15:03  * Hydroxide just updated the agenda with Joerg's regrets
15:03 < bdale> this *could* be really exciting if it happens, but way too early to know what may come of it
15:04 < bdale> my apologies to everyone for not getting the report text into the agenda earlier
15:05 < bdale> perhaps we should continue with the structured part of the agenda, and entertain questions when we get to items up for discussion, so folks have time to read?
15:05 < Hydroxide> sounds reasonable
15:05 < bdale> [item 4, Treasurer's Report]
15:05 < bdale> Let me start of by saying how thrilled I was to receive a treasurer's report this month with all of the earmarks resolved!
15:05 < bdale> Kudos to Michael, Josh, and everyone else who helped get us to this milestone!
15:05 < bdale> Michael?
15:06  * Hydroxide cheers
15:06 < schultmc> I apologize for not getting the report out sooner.
15:06 < schultmc> I believe we've solved the problems that delayed reports in the past and future reports will be on a timely basis.
15:07 < schultmc> Future reports will also include an income statement rather than just a balance sheet but I ran out of time before the meeting to prepare one.
15:07 < bdale> ok, that sounds good
15:07 < Hydroxide> schultmc: maybe make the balance sheet for the last day of the same calendar month that the income statement is for?
15:07 < schultmc> Hydroxide: good idea
15:08 < bdale> schultmc: any real remaining hurdles to comment on?
15:08 < schultmc> bdale: not at this time - I'll send out an e-mail if I discover any
15:08 < Hydroxide> great
15:08 -!- linuxpoet [~jd@or-69-34-217-90.sta.embarqhsd.net] has joined #spi
15:09 < linuxpoet> here :P
15:09 < Hydroxide> linuxpoet: welcome back. state your name for the record, please
15:09 < linuxpoet> Joshua Drake
15:09 < bdale> ok, very good news all around.  I know there have been many questions about our financial status and transaction processing recently, I hope we're now in a position to answer any remaining ones.
15:09 < schultmc> bdale: yes we are
15:09 < bdale> linuxpoet: thanks for joining us, we hit quorum without you so proceeded
15:09 < Hydroxide> linuxpoet: (schultmc just presented his treasurer report, as per text in the agenda and emails)
15:09 < bdale> schultmc: ok, anything else?
15:09 < linuxpoet> That's fine, I didnt' realize I had disconnected. I apologize
15:10 < bdale> linuxpoet: np
15:10 < bdale> linuxpoet: re-load agenda for my presidents report, etc
15:10 < linuxpoet> nod
15:10 < schultmc> bdale: no
15:10 < bdale> [item 5, Secretary's report]
15:10 < bdale> Jimmy?
15:11 < Hydroxide> just soliciting volunteers to help with the website
15:11 < Hydroxide> to move away from plone (while allowing editing through the web and through a VCS)
15:11 < Hydroxide> and keep it accurate and up to date
15:11 < linuxpoet> Hydroxide: I have some ideas there, I will email you offline
15:11 < Hydroxide> see the agenda for the details and how to help
15:11 < bdale> ok, cool.  anything else?
15:11 < Hydroxide> linuxpoet: ok. email secretary@ and admin@, and read the agenda item text first
15:12 < linuxpoet> nod
15:12 < Hydroxide> the only other thing is that I updated the officer list in the by-laws and the board webpages.
15:12 < Hydroxide> that's it.
15:12 < bdale> ok, thanks!
15:12 < Hydroxide> np
15:12 < bdale> [item 6, Outstanding minutes]
15:12 < bdale> Jimmy, any to vote on today?
15:12 < Hydroxide> yes, actually :)
15:12 < Hydroxide> last meeting's
15:12 < Hydroxide> the minutes are linked from the agenda, and the log is linked from the minutes
15:13 < Hydroxide> (no need to read the log if you're satisfied with the minutes)
15:13 < bdale> ok, my belated regrets for missing it due to I believe time zone confusion
15:13 < bdale> any corrections or are we ready to vote to approve?
15:14  * cdlu was going door-to-door or attending a debate or something at the time, so cannot comment on the accuracy of those minutes
15:14 < zobel> looks accurate.
15:14 < bdale> Jimmy, let's vote
15:15  * schultmc seconds
15:15 < Hydroxide> Voting started, 7 people (hydroxide,bdale,linuxpoet,cdlu,luk_,zobel,schultmc) allowed to vote on September 17 minutes. - You may vote yes/no/abstain only, type !vote $yourchoice now.
15:15 < cdlu> !vote abstain
15:15 < schultmc> !vote yes
15:15 < bdale> !vote abstain
15:15 < Hydroxide> !vote yes
15:15 < zobel> !vote yes
15:15 < luk_> !vote yes
15:15 < Hydroxide> linuxpoet: ?
15:16 < Hydroxide> going once..
15:16 < Hydroxide> going twice..
15:16 < Hydroxide> Current voting results for "September 17 minutes": Yes: 4, No: 0, Abstain: 2, Missing: 1 ( linuxpoet )
15:16 < Hydroxide> Voting for "September 17 minutes" closed.
15:17 < Hydroxide> it's a majority of those present anyway
15:17 < Hydroxide> they're approved.
15:17 < bdale> great, agreed, minutes approved
15:17 < bdale> what's the status on the others not yet voted on?
15:17 < linuxpoet> sigh
15:17 < Hydroxide> Neil is theoretically working on those
15:17 < linuxpoet> My 160lb dog got out, sorry
15:17 < luk_> theoretically :-)
15:17 < Hydroxide> linuxpoet: what would your vote have been?
15:17 < linuxpoet> yes
15:17 -!- Irssi: No vote running here
15:18 < linuxpoet> I would vote yes for the minutes approval
15:18 < Hydroxide> linuxpoet: OK. I'll note that in the minutes.
15:18 < bdale> I'm fine with noting it that way in the minutes
15:18 < Hydroxide> yep
15:18 < bdale> ok, thanks
15:18 < bdale> [item 7, Items up for discussion]
15:18 < bdale> Any questions about the OVF proposal?
15:18  * bdale opens to all attending for questions if any
15:19 < linuxpoet> I think it is a great idea
15:19 < luk_> it looks like a nice things which is different from the stuff we're used to
15:19 < linuxpoet> We helped them get into LinuxWorld last year... over 800 votes were cast with their software
15:19 < bdale> yes
15:19 < slef> Are the board still happy being involved with voting machines?
15:20 < luk_> I want to thank and support everyone involved for getting the proposal happen :-)
15:20 < bdale> as I've stated before, I'd rather such machines be open source than not
15:20 < linuxpoet> not only that, these aren't really machines... it is a live cd they load
15:20  * Hydroxide agrees. It's one of the best politically feasible options in the US and maybe other countries.
15:20 < slef> so this area already uses voting machines?
15:20 < bdale> what I've heard so far suggests to me that what the OVF folks are doing makes pretty good sense, and they clearly have the attention of some of the decision makers in California
15:20 < luk_> slef: the alternative being that everything is closed source and there is no real guarantee at all that the software does what it should?
15:20 < Hydroxide> slef: yes they do.
15:21 < slef> luk_: I thought Jason Kitcat reckoned that open source didn't offer any garantee either, but if it's not spreading voting machines, I've no further questions now.
15:22 < zobel> if that question was already asked by mail, ignore it, i am currently just a bit overloaded at work to follow all mail: if we need to hire someone, i have some concerns about the costs.
15:22 < Hydroxide> zobel: the costs of that hire would come out of the funds we'd be managing
15:22 < Hydroxide> zobel: not our pre-existing funds
15:22 < zobel> Hydroxide: and will not be higher? okay.
15:22 < luk_> so the ones we'd be managing for the project
15:22 < bdale> in this area as in many, open source by itself isn't a panacea... it's just a better methodology for software development and maintenance... but since OVF is an associated project and this activity is completely within our charter and our legal bounds, I can't see any reason to not support it
15:23 < Hydroxide> zobel: if we have them do general SPI stuff nort related to the OVF proposal, we might use some general SPI funds, but not project-specific funds
15:23 < zobel> k
15:23 < bdale> zobel: right, we've talked in the past about when SPI might need to hire someone anyway... I don't think we're quite there yet.  Anything OVF needs would be paid for through the contract they'd receive.
15:24 < bdale> ok, any other questions about this?
15:24 < bdale> Do any board members have other items for discussion they would like to address briefly?
15:25 < linuxpoet> Just thanks for your patience today.
15:25 < cdlu> I'd just like to say sorry I've not been around since the election, but that I'm off the campain trail and ready to refocus my energy here.
15:25 < bdale> np
15:25 < Hydroxide> nothing else for me
15:25 < bdale> cdlu: thanks
15:25 < bdale> ok
15:25 < bdale> [item 8, Next board meeting]
15:25 < bdale> I believe our default would be Wednesday 19th November, 2008 - 19:00 UTC?
15:25 < bdale> Anyone have strong objections?
15:25 < Hydroxide> just note the DST/Summer time change
15:25 < cdlu> not here
15:25 < Hydroxide> this is an hour EARLIER in local time
15:25 < linuxpoet> I am good
15:25 < zobel> can we move to 20:00 UTC?
15:25 < slef> Hydroxide: only in the north?
15:26 < bdale> I'm ok either way, 19:00 or 20:00, as long as we decide today
15:26 < Hydroxide> slef: well, Summer Time might be starting in some southern hemisphere countries. in any case, it's ending for every single board member
15:26 < zobel> i might have troubles (at least in november) with 19:00
15:26  * Hydroxide echoes with bdale said
15:26 < zobel> november is peak time at work.
15:26  * cdlu will work around whatever time you assign
15:26 < bdale> would anyone object to 20:00?
15:26  * schultmc is fine with 20:00
15:26 < linuxpoet> I am fine
15:26  * Hydroxide proposes 20:00 as a default time for every month until DST/Summer time resume
15:26 < luk_> ok
15:27 < zobel> Hydroxide: ack.
15:27 < bdale> ok, 19 November 20:00 UTC it is, then
15:27 < bdale> Ok, thank you to everyone present for participating today.
15:27 < bdale> *GAVEL*