[Python-Dev] Democracy

[Greg Ward]

On 23 April 2003, Guido van Rossum said:
> > A better comparison would be Habitat for Humanity (and voluntary
> > associations in general).  [...]
> 
> Maybe.  I get lots of junk mail asking for contributions from HforH
> and frankly I've always thought of them as yet another charity: there
> are lots of these, and most of them are so much larger than our
> community that comparison is difficult.

Don't forget, the PSF is gunning for charity status too.  That's just
the most obvious way to state legally, "We are a community with shared
values, etc. etc.".  I think there are a lot of parallels between open
source development and other volunteer organizations.  Heck, I like to
justify the occasional weekend spent hunkered down in front of the
computer by saying I'm doing volunteer work.  IMHO, hacking on Python is
the moral equivalent of helping to maintain public-access hiking
trails.  (Although the latter is better exercise, it's nice not to have
to jump in the shower after a day spent hacking on Python.  ;-)

        Greg
-- 
Greg Ward <gward@python.net>                         http://www.gerg.ca/
Reality is for people who can't handle science fiction.