Banshee Amazon Store disabled in Ubuntu 11.04 by Canonical (Network World)

Posted Feb 17, 2011 1:31 UTC (Thu) by jason.warner (guest, #72958)
Parent article: Banshee Amazon Store disabled in Ubuntu 11.04 by Canonical (Network World)

I posted this on the original article comment thread, and wanted to repost here for completeness.

"Hi Everyone -

My name is Jason Warner and I'm the new Ubuntu desktop manager at Canonical. While I wasn't party to the particular discussions, I thought I would jump in and give my thoughts. It might be hard to field any follow-ups via a comment section so if anyone wants to comment off-line, feel free to email me at jason.warner@canonical.com.

Others in the thread touched on many of the points, so bear with me if there is some repetition.

Revenue sharing deals are common in software and Canonical has a history of cordially participating in mutually beneficial relationships with upstreams. While some may not like the exact parameters of the relationship, those parameters are really between Canonical and the various partners. Just like any relationship, there will be give and take and as long as everyone maturely approaches the situation, mutually beneficial arrangements usually evolve.

Canonical has always had the business model of selling services in and around Ubuntu, and this was an example where a win/win situation could be created with the upstream. This was the driving force behind the discussions with the Banshee team. Based on response from the Banshee team on multiple accounts across different sites, it seems me they feel that Canonical approached them in good faith, and there was no hard feelings between the actual parties involved.

Again, if anyone wants to comment off-line, please do email me at jason.warner@canonical.com. "

to post comments

Banshee Amazon Store disabled in Ubuntu 11.04 by Canonical (Network World)

Posted Feb 17, 2011 4:07 UTC (Thu) by jzb (editor, #7867) [Link] (3 responses)

I'll post my response from NWW here as well:

Forgive me if I'm misreading this, but it sounds a lot like "hey, this is a deal between Banshee and Canonical so you don't have any business butting in."

I'm hoping that was not how it was meant, but if it was... you're dead wrong. Canonical has spent quite a lot of time and money trying to convince the larger community to help it build Ubuntu. With that comes transparency and accountability, or it should. Banshee is a community project, and this involves funds that were earmarked for a non-profit that benefits Canonical - so it very well should be discussed in public and not just "between the parties."

The resolution was posted on the Banshee Project's blog (as it should be) and it's something that the wider community needs to understand because it potentially affects any project that might want to do something similar to Banshee in terms of an affiliate deal with Amazon or any other company.

It's also something that Canonical's users might want to know where funds go when they use Firefox or Banshee to make a purchase through Amazon or any other affiliate.

Finally, it's something that other companies in the same space need to understand. A significant portion of Banshee's development was sponsored by a competing company that decided to forgo revenue from this affiliate relationship in favor of putting it towards GNOME. Other companies in the same space as Canonical need to understand that Canonical will not respect those affiliate deals when they have an opportunity to put their hand in the cookie jar.

Funds ear-marked for a non-profit

Posted Feb 17, 2011 13:28 UTC (Thu) by sladen (guest, #27402) [Link] (2 responses)

Zonker: much as I am reticent to inject mere facts into the discussion:

foundation.gnome.org/finance/ of which the most recent I can see is:
foundation.gnome.org/finance/GNOME2009-budget-with-actuals.ods

There are three donors listed above the $20,000-mark. Google, Intel and some outfit in based in the Isle-of-Man.

Funds ear-marked for a non-profit

Posted Feb 17, 2011 13:36 UTC (Thu) by jzb (editor, #7867) [Link] (1 responses)

If you read the original article, I did give Canonical credit for being a GNOME sponsor. (The budget doesn't quite concur with what I remember Novell spending on GNOME-related activities, but that's another story.)

The hand that refills the cookie jar / New events box host

Posted Feb 19, 2011 12:25 UTC (Sat) by sladen (guest, #27402) [Link]

It was more about the "hand in the cookie jar" implication... if the hand is indeed there, it is perhaps because that hand is refilling the GNOME cookie jar! It certainly looks that way with a figure of 75% out (if that is indeed the case) that magically puts 2002,000% back in!

A lot of people end up reading an article; and many other articles get written as a result. That's a massive reach and the number of comments here reflects that. At the moment the (new) (replacement) GNOME European Events box could benefit from a new homethe former was graciously hosted by Openismus GmbH in Berlin for many years.

Perhaps you could spread the message in your next piece? It would positively contribute to GNOME and ultimately sharing the workload. Not everything need be about monetary contributions, most frequently it is the time and space that a person or company can volunteer or contributethis is just such an opportunity to back GNOME and it would be useful if you could spread the message.