kubuntu-council team mailing list archive

[Rick Timmis <ricktimmis68@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I will setup a doodle poll, to field for a date and time

Then create an agenda where we can organise things

Leave it with me

Rick

On Fri, 8 May 2020, 10:10 Michael Mikowski, <mmikowski@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Hi Valorie:
>
> Thank you for the excellent question. Responses are in-line below.
>
> On Thu, May 7, 2020, 23:13 Valorie Zimmerman <valorie.zimmerman@xxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
>
>> Hello Michael,
>>
>> On Thu, May 7, 2020 at 12:41 PM Michael Mikowski <mmikowski@xxxxxxxxxx>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi All:
>>>
>>> We have a great foundation for success and are poised to provide another
>>> round of capital to expand the reach of Kubuntu branded hardware.  However,
>>> we should like to adjust our agreement so we can move to this next phase
>>> with confidence.  Here are the areas we should like to discuss:
>>>
>>>    - Updated licensing agreement
>>>
>>> Can you say more about what sort of updating you want?
>>
>
> We are interested in extending the license agreement to ensure we have the
> headroom to grow and leverage the substantial investment we've made in
> providing quality Kubuntu powered hardware and brand exposure.
>
>>
>>>    - Sharing infrastructure (like site templating, hosting, lead
>>>    capture systems, virtual appliances, etc)
>>>
>>> We have no infra to share, frankly. We have some donated server assets
>> and hosting from Ubuntu.
>>
>
> We are not seeking resources from Kubuntu but are offering to share what
> we have created. We have all the listed systems in place and would like to
> make them available to the Kubuntu team for the benefit of all. For
> example, the virtual appliance build and delivery system is quite
> sophisticated and could be used by Kubuntu to capture leads and expand
> adoption. We also have extensive regression testing in place and a
> replacement for WordPress.  We can make these freely available to Kubuntu
> as a way of giving back to the community and strengthening the Kubuntu
> brand.
>
>>
>>>    - Feeding improvements upstream
>>>
>>> By which you mean contributing code to Ubuntu or Debian? Changes to our
>> Kubuntu Docs? or what?
>>
>
> All of these. We already have a growing library of documents to help
> Kubuntu Focus customers at https://kfocus.org/wf/. Also, we have made
> systems to improve stability and reliability such as the FocusRx out of
> band updates. We have fixed compositor and have integrated CUDA libraries
> with i386 drivers. All these - and many more - could likely be moved
> upstream to benefit all users.
>
>>
>>>    - Better integration to the build process (Rik Mills)
>>>
>>> Rik was not in the original send line. Can you say what you mean here?
>>
>
> We publish three packages that provide hardware optimization, UX
> preferences, and curated apps to customers from our signed repository for
> both 20.04 and 18.04. Review of these by Kubuntu packagers such as Rik
> would be most welcome and could strengthen both the Kubuntu distribution
> and the product we ship. Sometimes it's amazing how much can be
> accomplished when just a few key developers collaborate.
>
>>
>>>    - Future involvement with Tuxedo
>>>
>>> Are we, the Council involved with Tuxedo? I believe that our agreement
>> was with you and your company. Your agreement to Tuxedo is only tangent to
>> us, in that hopefully they are distributing KFocus machines in Europe.
>>
>
> We can take this offline.
>
>>
>>>    - Anything else the Counsel would like to discuss
>>>
>>> I'm afraid that this email is so vague I'm a bit at sea.
>>
>
> I hope these responses help clarify our intent. We want to work as an
> honest partner with Kubuntu to make a great distribution even better and
> help build a bright future for both the OS and Kubuntu branded hardware.
>
> Sincerely, Mike
>
>
>>
>>> Perhaps we could meet soon to discuss?
>>>
>>> Sincerely,
>>>
>>> Michael S. Mikowski
>>> Founder and General Manager, MindShareManagement Inc.
>>> 415-418-4731 (08:00-19:00 PST)
>>>
>>> ====
>>>
>>> *Background*
>>> The Kubuntu Focus has come a long way. We have built substantial
>>> infrastructure for every facet of the business. Great examples include
>>> signed repositories, a full e-commerce site, substantial inventory, live
>>> support, constantly validated and updated mission-critical workflows like
>>> deep learning, production systems, and logistics controls.  We also feel
>>> the product is also excellent with hundreds of refinements to make it a
>>> ready-to-use, reliable, and fully supported consumer product.
>>>
>>> To date we have sold 19 units in the US. Tuxedo is also distributing the
>>> Focus Europe but they have not responded to enquiries for weeks. We believe
>>> they have sold around the same number.
>>>
>>> All the best,
>>
>> Valorie
>>
>> --
>> http://about.me/valoriez - pronouns: she/her
>>
>