[Tinyos-alliance] Notes on 8-29-06 Telecon

[David E. Culler]

We spend most of the call discussing the purpose of the alliance that is 
stated in the Articles of Incorporation. To test the completeness of our 
statement, we presented specific wordings that appear in the purpose 
statements of other related organizations and discussed whether there 
was need or interest in addressing similar issues. The gist follows. I 
will circulate shortly a proposed modified wording.

D.

Participants

David
Adam
Ralph
Jack
Ralph Kling (now at Crossbow)

1. Discussion of articles of incorporation: focused on wording of purpose
2. Timeline for remainder of process
3. Officers and participants
4. TEPs in finalization process
5. New TEPS ready to enter finalizations

Jack
- placeholder pretty good,
- isoc too heavy on education

Adam
- concur, but lets look again on scope

infrastructure => tools
education
=> dissemination and no how, experience
=> education in the broad sense vs academic education
=> Jack: how else can you advance
new application
=> missing
=> adam: broader wording, enhancement and usage
=> in addition to technology ecosystem (which enhances applications)
=> adam: alliance not actually doing applications, jack: working groups 
may focus there
stimulate collaboration =>
open source => adam: mentioning it would set perspective
=> Jack: might that disuade some participants
=> Ralph: need mixture of open and proprietary to make ecosystem
=> David: ensure open appears
interoperable
=> adam: like to have
=> ralph: agrees that this is a purpose, puts onus on alliance to do 
something
standards
=> adam: interoperability
=> jack: brings up more problem than it solves
=> adam: prefer quality assurance
=> ralph: another aspect being how we operate relative to existing
=> david: better to have standards interpreted as part of ecosystem, 
word has tendency to shadow all other asepct
sw creation and management
=> adam: similar tools, part of ecosystem

certification
=> adam: step in assuring interoperability, not at the highest level, 
better in the bylaws, associated with the use of the name, etc.
=> david: tends to overshadow, like standards

marketing
=> adam: not happy with the word, prefer evangelizing
=> david: promotion

---
research
=> adam: not strictly a research organization, one of the step
=> if mentioned, what does it mean
=> david: might taint with industry perspective or competitive research
=> jac: agree

=====================================================

TEP finalization

++ no input from the community
++ request for chaperone suggestions and process

2 weeks articles
3 weeks bylaws
4 weeks to finish



technology AND community



ISOC:

The purpose or purposes for which the corporation is organized are as 
follows:

To be a non-profit corporation (without capital stock), which shall be 
operated exclusively for educational, charitable and scientific 
purposes. Such educational, charitable, and scientific purposes shall 
include carrying on activities:

To facilitate and support the technical evolution of the Internet as a 
research and education infrastructure, and to stimulate the involvement 
of the scientific community, industry, government and others in the 
evolution of the Internet;

To educate the scientific community, industry and the public at large 
concerning the technology, use and application of the Internet;

To promote educational applications of Internet technology for the 
benefit of government, colleges and universities, industry, and the 
public at large;

To provide a forum for exploration of new Internet applications, and to 
stimulate collaboration among organizations in their operational use of 
the global Internet.

To exercise all the powers conferred upon corporations formed under the 
District of Columbia Non-Profit Corporation Act in order to accomplish 
the corporation's educational, charitable and scientific purposes; and 
to take other actions necessary or convenient to effect any or all of 
the purposes for which the corporation is organized.

Apache:

The purpose of the Corporation is to engage in any lawful act or 
activity for which corporations which are organized not for profit may 
be organized under the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware, 
including the creation and maintenance of "open source" software 
distributed by the Corporation to the public at no charge. 
Notwithstanding the forgoing, if the Board of Directors of the 
Corporation elects to seek and obtains an exemption for the Corporation 
from federal taxation pursuant to Section 501(a) of the Internal Revenue 
Code, as amended (the "IRC"), and until such time, if ever, that such 
exemption is denied or lost, the Corporation shall not be empowered to 
engage directly or indirectly in any activity which the Corporation 
believes would be likely to invalidate its status as an organization 
exempt from federal taxation under Section 501(a) of the IRC as an 
organization described in Section 501(c) of the IRC.



Zigbee

The Corporation’s main purpose is to bring about the existence of a 
broad range of interoperable consumer devices by establishing open 
industry specifications for unlicensed, untethered peripheral, control 
and entertainment devices anywhere in and around the home. The 
Corporation’s efforts may include, but are not limited to developing and 
adopting open software, establishing interoperability and certification 
programs, and improving market conditions through user education, 
training and other support programs