Belgian forum for the promotion of Free and Open Source Software in business

important news: first face-to-face meeting 7 November 19:30

Location will be 3000 Leuven, Vaartkom 11. The agenda is currently debated on the mailing list. A pointer will be provided here as soon as the agenda is frozen.

A wiki was set-up to promote collaboration on joined texts etc.

Initial Call to Action
List of Companies
Activity Log
Mailing List Policy

Initial Call to Action

Leuven, 6 October 2002

Dear Madam,
Dear Sir,

I want to invite you to join the organisation of a central forum for the Free Software companies in Belgium. The goal of the forum is the promotion of the Free Software business in Belgium.

This proposal is limited to businesses delivering solutions where Free Software is a significant element in the solutions for the whole company or a division of the company. This does not involve non-commercial users of Free Software, LUGS, Universities, ... They have other organisations for that (LUG's etc.). Prof. Herman Bruyninckx (K.U.Leuven) is currently setting up a forum for non-commercial entities involved in Free Software. The proposal I make here, can be seen as a parallel acitvity in the commercial field.

Initial activities could be:

set-up a simple web site that holds a short description and a pointer to the companies delivering solutions based on Free Software in Belgium
announce Free Software activities in the Belgian context
post some general business related news on Linux in the Belgian context
set pointers to non-commercial Free SW initiatives in Belgium

These activities are either individual contributions by the companies or general announces. This does not require strong coordination or agreements between the parties.

In a next phase, the activities could grow to:

represent the Free Software viewpoint from a business perspective to the general public, politics and journalists
organize some events to promote Free Software, vis-a-vis non-Free Software solutions
jointly act against the detrimental software patent legislation that is currently being planned in the European Commision
other activities to promote the business use of Free Software

For those activities a more formal organisation will probably be required.

As a starting point, I am sending this mail to a number of addresses that I know are involved with Free Software based solutions. The list is below. Please let me know who I forgot (sorry in advance to those people ...). I have set-up a basic web site that shows this text and may be used (at least temporarily) as the central point.

http://LinuxCompanies.be

If there is initial interest, we should also set-up a mailing list on neutral territory (that is easily arranged).

For "Free Software", I use the definition/list given on http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/license-list.html. This includes both GPL-style and BSD-style licenses (where the degree of Copyleft in the licenses is the discriminator between the licenses).

Credits to the Belgian HOW-TO of Dag Wieers and the recent Trends article of Raf Cockx for getting the list of Free SW companies. I added some other contacts I had and removed some from the list, where I was not immediately convinced of the relevance to this list.

Please let me know if your company has initial interest and who would be the contact person. I will publish this list of interested parties on the temporary page. If enough people react, this will get the ball rolling.

Sincerely,

Dr. ir. Peter Vandenabeele
CEO, Mind NV
Vaartkom 11
3000 Leuven
peter@mind.be
+32-478-27.40.69
http://mind.be

List of Companies

The big companies (>+/- 100 people)
Interest	Company	Contact Person	E-Mail
	Cronos		info @ xcronos.be
	Dolmen	Luc Horre	luc.horre @ xdolmen.be
	HP	Jan Huygh	jan.huygh @ xhp.com
	IBM	Sam Versluys	blueline @ xbe.ibm.com
	PWC Global	Dirk Dussart	dirk.dussart @ xbe.pwcglobal.com
	Sun	Luc Opdebeeck	luc.opdebeeck @ xsun.com

The smaller boxes (<+/- 100 people)
Interest	Company	Contact Person	E-Mail
	Adoc Services		sales @ xadoc-services.com
	Adept	Eric Stroobants	info @ xadept.be
	Ampersant	Jeff Verheyen	jeff.verheyen @ xampersant.be
	Approach		info @ xapproach.be
	Arafox	Bernard Fauque	info @ xarafox.com
	Aragne	Denis Frere	info @ xaragne.com
	Better Access	Jan Guldentops	info @ xba.be
	boat	Robert Sprockeels	info @ xboat.be
	OpenBSD	Wim Vandeputte	wvdputte @ xopenbsd.org
	Conostix	Alexandre Dulaunoy	info @ xconostix.com
	Coresequence	Machtelt Garrels	info @ xcoresequence.com
	Computer Services Solutions NV	Erwin Baeyens	linux @ xcssnv.be
	DConnect		webmaster @ xdconnect.be
	Defreyne	Stephane Defreyne	info @ xdefreyne.com
	Digibel	Joan Lavrijs	info @ xdigibel.be
	DS Improve	Guy De Smet	info @ xdsimprove.be
	Eauzone		info @ xeauzone.be
	Emmo		info @ xemmo.be
	Eurologiciel		info @ xeurologiciel.be
	Exys	Ken Desmet	info @ xexys.be
	Fitit		info @ xfitit.be
	FKS	Eric Smets	info @ xfks.be
	Glasshouse	Leander Berwers	info @ xglasshouse.be
	Grmbl	Bram Dumolin	info @ xgrmbl.com
	IT-Optics	Michel Applaincourt	info @ xit-optics.com
	Kangaroot	Peter Dens	info @ xkangaroot.net
	Life	Jasper Nuyens	info @ xlife.be
	Linugen	Tom Schouteden	info @ xlinugen.com
	Linuxidee	Jurgen Defurne	jurgen.defurne @ xpandora.be
	Mind	Peter Vandenabeele	info @ xmind.be
	Minotaur Solutions	Maarten Loose	info @ xminotaur-solutions.com
	Multitel		info @ xmultitel.be
	Neolabs	Maarten Slaets	info @ xneolabs.be
	Nimblesite	Ben Rodriguez	ben.rodriguez @ xnimblesite.com
	Openminds		info @ xopenminds.be
	Opensides	Benoit Mortier	info @ xopensides.be
	Openvision		info @ xopenvision.biz
	Outerthought	Steven Noels	info @ xouterthought.org
	Phidani		info @ xphidani.be
	Philips	Geert Adriaens	geert.adriaens @ xphilips.com
	Qbian		info @ xqbian.com
	Si-Lab	Toon Knapen	info @ xsi-lab.com
	Sioux	Filip Eyskens	info @ xsioux.be
	Spier		info @ xspier.be
	Squareroot	Andy Caus	info @ xsquareroot.be
	Stone-IT	Kris Buytaert	info @ xbe.stone-it.com
	Theridion	Frederic Peters	info @ xtheridion.com
	Twixel	Phlippe Huybrechts	info @ xtwixel.com
	Uwyn	Geert Bevin	info @ xuwyn.com
	Virgoplus	Bruno Mairlot	info @ xvirgoplus.com
	WAW	John Seifert	info @ xwaw.be

Well known Free and Open Source Activists in Belgium that have pledged support
Interest	Company	Contact Person	E-Mail
		Herman Bruyninckx	Herman.Bruyninckx @ xmech.kuleuven.ac.be
	Association Electronique Libre	Nicolas Pettiaux	nicolas.pettiaux @ xael.be

Activity log

2002-10-06-07:07: Peter Vandenabeele: First mail sent out

2002-10-06-13:30: Outertought: Focus on "Linux" in the name is not well chosen :-(

I agree. I meant to focus on "Free Software" in general, not on Linux alone. So we need a better name. I am already working on that. I cannot release details until I have a confirmation of having a dns.be lock on a good name. Hope to have feedback in 24-48 hours.

2002-10-06-13:40: Outertought: Focus on "Free Software" vs. "Open Source" ?

I personally prefer the term "Free Software". The URL I refer to, describes and lists what is and what is not Free Software, as defined by the FSF. Both GPL and the Free-BSD license are denoted as Free Software licenses, so the Free Software vs. Open Source discussion, is not a GPL vs. BSD discussion. The fundamental debate on this should be held in an Open Forum at a later date when structures are set-up for that. For now, I prefer to keep status-quo on this one.

2002-10-06-13:50: Ampersant: initial interest

2002-10-06-13:55: Herman Bruyninckx: go for it :-)

2002-10-06-13:58: Digibel: initial interest

2002-10-06-13:59: Defreyne: initial interest

2002-10-06-14:00: Uwyn: initial interest

2002-10-06-14:02: Minotaur-solutions: initial interest

2002-10-06-14:05: Life: initial interest

2002-10-06-14:06: Peter Vandenabeele: Mailing list needed

We need a mailing list. I requested to set-up a mailinglist to the current administrators of the LinuxCompanies.be domain. Hope to have it going in 24-48 hours.

2002-10-06-14:20: Peter Vandenabeele: Full table needed

I will change the lay-out and make a full table with Interest flag, Company Name (domain), Contact person, e-mail. Anyone wants to help on this? Send me a mail, then I will send you the data to be formatted in table form (straight static html table).
[update: this was done in the meanwhile]

2002-10-06-14:36: Peter Vandenabeele: Content Management System needed

The first offers for support in the Content Management aspect start coming in. Currently I am the bottleneck in this process. I personally believe Zope is the obvious choice for distributed Content Management, but as soon as the mailing lists are up, we should start discussing this on a dedicated list. There are numerous Zope specialists on this list.

2002-10-06-15:35: Outertought: continued exploration of the Free SW vs. Open Source question

This requies a continued discussion on an open forum. Mailing list seems the optimal forum.

2002-10-06-16:05: Linugen: initial interest

2002-10-06-16:10: Kangaroot: initial interest

2002-10-06-17:30: Michael Devogelaere: mailing list freesoftware@linuxcompanies.be operational

Michael Devogelaere has set-up the list, thanks :-). I (Peter Vandenabeele) defined the list policy as follows:

membership of the list is open. Anyone can subscribe and read and write mails on the list.
list archives are maintained and will be published. Anything you write can be used against you ;-)
for spam protection, only members can post to the list. Mails from non-members are dropped (not read by a human).
A bounce is sent to the originator with the request to register to the list
manual subscribe / unsubscribe by a member:
You can subscribe by sending an empty mail to
freesoftware-subscribe@linuxcompanies.be or
freesoftware-subscribe-my.name=my.company.be@linuxcompanies.be
it is not required that the mail is empty. When you use the first form, the Return-Path: address is used to send you the mails and filter your write access to the list. With the second form, you can force another address (my.name@my.company.be e.g.) to be used by the list. Please note that for write access to the list, your Return-Path: is the address that is checked against the address with which you are subscribed (not your From: address).
forced subsribe / unsubscribe by a list administrator
list administrators can be contacted through
freesoftware-owner@linuxcompanies.be.
Please be patient, my owner is a lot slower than I am ;-)
unsubscribe from the list by a member:
To remove your address from the list, send a message to:
freesoftware-unsubscribe@linuxcompanies.be
again your Return-Path: address needs to match the address by which you are subscribed. You don't need to remember a login/password to get off the list at a later time. As a measure of safety, you will get a message sent to you. If you reply to that message, you are completely off the list.
the serious part: the moderators have the right to remove/block access from any member that makes abuse of the mailing list (e.g systematic off-topic, commercial, spam posting). If an unacceptable message is posted, the moderators will take action, without writing to the list. Please do not take actions yourself on the list. Replying to a spam message on the list is considered spam in itself (you know very well what you are doing, yes you [pointing my finger at someone who tried this after a recent incident I had with this, but I managed to shut down the box before that message ever reached the list and catch it afterwards in the moderator list]) and will also result in the same actions taken against you as taken against the original spammer. Don't respond to spam, it only makes it worse. Trust the moderators to take action. If you can't stand it anymore, send an unsubscribe message to the list manager robot, mail the moderators, mail me, call my gsm (0478-27.40.69), but don't annoy the other people on the list with your problem. Don't post unsubscribe messages to the list: you make a fool of yourself (the header of each mail contains detailed info on how to unsubscribe yourself).

2002-10-06-17:58: Peter Vandenabeele: anounced mailing list to direct mailing contacts

2002-10-06-18:58: exys: initial interest

2002-10-06-19:00: Peter Vandenabeele: Organisation ?

A few elements to discuss (on the mailinglist) about organisation:

One person already suggested the move to a vzw/asbl. This is well possible, but requires some organisation (it is not that hard either; costs about 1,250 EURO start-up cost; new law on vzw/asbl also requires formal bookkeeping, but that is not too difficult either). In this initial phase, it is just an ad-hoc group, where small costs are absorbed by companies doing some work and hosting.

I was thinking to classification in 4 categories (you can be in more than 1, but you need to choose one principal category ?):

IT Consulting (this would be the principle category for most, I believe; in practice you also sell HW and some SW with it, but that is a smaller amount of the business)
Hardware product (e.g. Acunia and exys sell HW platforms for Embedded OS's, mainly working with Free SW OS's but do not focus on Free SW consulting services to my knowledge)
Software product (Free SW; is a proprietary product on top of or derived from Free SW also allowed (e.g. an Apache derivative, Binary on Linux, a commercial Embedded Linux toolchain); I would say yes, since the goal here is to promote business that uses and promotes Free SW; sometimes it is needed to sell a proprietary product to promote Free SW and earn your income at the same time).
Embedded Development (e.g. Philips TASS, Mind, ...)

We need to choose a new name. We have two names in the running (not disclosed until we get absolute certainty from the registrar), one is focussed on Free Software, the other one on Open Source. I have a preference for Free Software, but we locked both names. On a short term, we need to switch to a permanent name so we will need to cut a deal on that.

All this needs to be discussed on the mailing list.

2002-10-06-23:45: Stone-IT Belgium: initial interest

2002-10-07-01:00: Nicolas Pettiaux: go for it :-)

2002-10-07-11:35: Conostix.com: initial interest

2002-10-07-11:55: Michael Devogelaere: new domain names locked
We locked the domain names:

FreeSoftwareCompanies.be
OpenSourceCompanies.be

Lets vote on the mailing list which name is prefered. I would suggest we have a decision by Tuesday 8 Oct, 10 pm and implementation of the new name by Thursday 10 Oct, 10 pm.

2002-10-07-11:59: Boat.be: initial interest

2002-10-07-16:15: Squareroot.be: initial interest

2002-10-07-19:10: Michael Devogelaere: list archive on-line

List archives of the mailing list are available at http://linuxcompanies.be/archive and are renewed every 3 hours.

2002-10-07-20:00: Michael Devogelaere: digest of mailing list available

There's a digest-list created now. You can subscribe by sending a mail to freesoftware-digest-subscribe@linuxcompanies.be. The mail will be sent after either

30 messages were received
24 hours passed
64 kilobytes of maildata were received

since the last digest-mail. Note that these are temporary settings which might change in the future. (depends on the traffic of this list)

2002-10-07-20:01: Peter Vandenabeele: discussion on list has commenced

Since today the discussion on the mailing list (see above) has commenced seriously. This site only takes over some highlights of the evolution of the project. All detailed info will be on the list. Please mail to the list, if you feel specific info needs to be published through this site.

2002-10-07-20:08: Peter Vandenabeele: Content Management needed

Help needed: Could the Content Management specialists on the list identify themselves on the mailing list and suggest solutions that would fit a number of criteria:

cvs style editing of a few main pages: Call to Action, Activity Log, Management Summary (for CEO's and other dummies, as Trends put it nicely), consensus documents, RFC's in progress, ... with restricted access and logging. Activity log needs a specific layout with time stamps, author, lead line, content (Activity log needs to be moderated).
distributed adding of content in subcategories with wider access restrictions per subcategory.

2002-10-08-00:39: Peter Vandenabeele: suggested IETF like organisation for FOSSBEL (Free and Open Source Software in Belgium)

Posted a suggestion for a formal organisation method that will allow distributed Working Group and some central guidance by an elected Steering Group

2002-10-08-02:00: Peter Vandenabeele, Maarten Loose: new web page with table of relevant and interested companies

Posted a new version of the web page (still only 1 page, this will change soon), that now contains a nice list of the relevant and interested FOSS companies. Thanks to Maarten Loose for submitting an initial version of the table.

2002-10-08-02:10: Peter Vandenabeele: Changed header of page

Changed header to "Forum for the promotion of Free and Open Source Software in Belgium". This is also motivated by the growing interest on people that are professionally involved with Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in Belgium, but not necessarily inside a company that focusses on delivering FOSS services (e.g. on the professional users of FOSS software). This also balances the interests of the groups that prefer the name Open Source and the groups that prefer the name Free Software to essentially describe the same movement that aims at providing Free and Open Source Software to the private and business users and developers.

2002-10-09:01:40: Peter Vandenabeele: Logging mainly on the mailing list

The mailing list is now used intensively. Detailed logs are there.

2002-10-09:01:45: Grmbl: initial interest

2002-10-09:01:50: Peter Vandenabeele: suggested initial policy for Steering Group assignment

My suggestion thus is that I present a team of currently 3 people, me and two others, strongly active on the list that have agreed in a private mailing yesterday to joing the suggested initial Steering Group.
...
Every new member will then be presented by the current Steering Committee (with at least a 75% majority in the Steering Committee) and needs a 50% majority of the general votes on the list. I would suggest one vote per company to keep it simple. "Large companies" will e.g. have two votes per company.

All of this is temporary and will be finalized by the WG on legal aspects.

2002-10-09:02:25: IT-Optics: initial interest

2002-10-09:15:50: Jan Vanhercke: contact with OTA

An interesting thread has started on a possible collaboration with OTA (the SIG on Linux specifically). See the mailing list for details.

2002-10-09:05:25: Dolmen: initial interest

2002-10-14:03:25: OpenSides: initial interest

2002-10-14:03:28: Peter Vandenabeele: new candidates for SG

Other candidates have come forward to work in the SG.

2002-10-14:03:30: Steven Noels: proposal for 9/10 point plan

Steven Noels has presented a basic text with 9/10 points to act as a basic plan to continue the work. New versions and updates on the mailing list
.
2002-10-14:03:30: Peter Vandenabeele: Name proposal "Ouverture.be" gets majority support

As a unified name for the movement, "Ouverture.be" has clear majority support (full legal checks not done yet, but the domain is locked). This site is also operational under ouverture.be and there is a good chance this will become the permanent name.

2002-10-14:16:00: Peter Vandenabeele: Changed top line

Changed top line to : "Belgian forum for the promotion of Free and Open Source Software in business" as a proposed consensus statement on what the movement is about.

2002-10-17:17:35: Computer Solutions Services NV: initial interest

Copyright (C) 2002 Peter Vandenabeele
Table of FOSSBEL companies: Copyright (C) 2002 Maarten Loose

Any part of this text may be used/copied/modified as you wish, even without mentioning the Copyright holders, as long as you make some reference (in print or a href link) to the web site that will permanently host this initiative (if the URL changes, the permanent URL will be indicated on this site) and you state this condition together with the disclaimer below as a condition for further usage/copying/modification by other parties.

When this initiative is transfered to an established group, under the distributed control of a number of Free Software companies, Peter Vandenabeele guarantees to transfer the domain name to that group when requested by that group.

When this initiative is transfered to an established group, under the distributed control of a number of Free Software companies, the Copyright holders agree to transfer the Copyright and all rights to the content to that group when requested by that group.

DISCLAIMER: The Copyright holder, the maintainers of the web site software and hardware and the contributors to this project cannot be responsible for any damages or consequential damages resulting from publishing or use of this work. The information is posted AS IS, without any guarantees or warranties whatsoever.

To my best believe, the information posted here is based on publicly available or freely obtainable resources. You can at any time request that information about your company or person be removed from the list. However, we cannot be responsible for the fact that it was published before and can remain publicly available on certain storage devices (e.g. Google cache) or in versions copied by other people.