Originally Posted by smoku

The difference to Debian, Angstrom etc. communities is, that they are focused on the software and are working on the software. The hardware is only a mean to run the software and they embrace and welcome every single one able to.

This community is focusing on hardware. The software (Maemo OS) is only a mean to enable the hardware, which noone really cares of and accepts whatever the manufacturer of the device throws at.
With the presence of new hardware, the older hardware is abandoned en-masse.
With the absence of hardware, the community is dying or jumping ships.


Without changing the focus, this community won't survive.

Originally Posted by Jaffa

So, with the topic being the future of *.maemo.org (and as lma noted, maemo.org is far more than just another vBulletin instance), there are two concerns:

• What do we do about funding, infrastructure, resourcing of the websites & services on maemo.org?
• What are the possible futures of Maemo, and how can we achieve them?

Saying "the Council needs to lead us" is entirely missing the point. Someone needs to come up with concrete, viable proposals which can be discussed. The council can assist with the publication and collaboration of that, as - I'm sure - anyone vested in Maemo will also publicise.

Once there is a popular, actionable plan for either of these two items, the council's power is to say "this is the roadmap" and then assist with the publication and collaboration of that, as - I'm sure - anyone vested in Maemo will also publicise.

The big "but" is, as smoku alluded to, no-one has come forward with a plan, nor even a plan to have a plan. It's unrealistic to expect five volunteers to be super CEOs of an amorphous, unruly and - if this, and so many other, threads are anything to go by - increasingly ungrateful mob.

The sad fact is that there may not be an ultimate end-game beyond "let's move to COBS for autobuilder, consolidate and reduce infrastructure costs as much as possible; have funding drives; introduce adverts and assist the CSSU as much as possible". That's still a lot of work, a lot of planning, and a lot of coordination. Who's volunteering to do it?

Originally Posted by AlMehdi

A new leader body could be chosen for the task. An election could even be held and administrated here at TMO with the help of the council. This election would also need some charts (rules) on how the board/organization should operate and how the board later will be replaced annually. The main obstacle here would be legal issues. This would need more than one enthusiast and preferable from the same country. Funding would rely on those enthusiast and their intentions. Trust could become an issue here. They would need to register as an organization in their country. This is also how the councils mandate could be extended. But this would mean that an re-election should be held for the council as the current members did not sign up for this.

The best and democratic solution in my mind would be a leader board but which would also be the most difficult to accomplice. It would need the most work. It would mean more than one need commitment and has enough trust from the rest of us. It would need someone to take the initial plunch and be extra committed. A very unlikely scenario in other word.

The easiest way would be if someone registered a domain and then let everyone pinch in. Growing it gradually. Managing a repository would not be too demanding. The rest of the services could though. Like the auto builder. It would be a lot of work initially. This could build and eventually become a leader board and body.

Another obstacle is hardware. If we can't find new hardware to exist on this is futile. I think the Cordia project are interesting in this regard. It shows that parts of Maemo is not locked to one device. It might be possible to put Maemo on an Adroid or WebOS device too. But is it worth it? Well, that question is something someone need to decide upon and then go to work. Without that person this discussion is pointless. Someone need to step up and take the lead.