Thanks for all theses responses, now we better see where is going the Nagios project. Jean <div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Mar 2, 2010 at 5:55 AM, Ethan Galstad <<a href="mailto:egalstad@nagios.org">egalstad@nagios.org</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;"> The recent messages on this list indicate a need for better communication between parties. It may be exciting to start a flame war or launch personal attacks based on unfounded assumptions, but its not effective or beneficial. If you have questions for me about what I think regarding the future of the Nagios Project, commercialization of Nagios, Nagios XI, trademarks, community stuff, etc. - just ask. In order to expedite and coordinate responses to share with the community, I've created a new "Ask Ethan" form online where you can submit questions to me about whatever you'd like. I'll answer these questions in the monthly Nagios News that goes out. As long as there continues to be new questions, I'll do my best to make "Ask Ethan" a permanent monthly section in the newsletter. Submit a question at: <a href="http://www.nagios.com/askethan" target="_blank">http://www.nagios.com/askethan</a> Here are some quick responses to questions I've seen asked. If you want more detail on any of these, submit an "Ask Ethan" question at the link above and I'll go into more depth in the newsletter... 1. Nagios Core and other OSS components of the Nagios Project are important to both myself and Nagios Enterprises. Nagios XI (like many other commercial solutions) is based on those components and we definitely want those projects to flourish in the future. *I* may not be the person actually coding or integrating patches (I've done that for over a decade now), but I'm dedicated to finding ways to ensure the project continues for at least the next decade. And just so there's no confusion on the subject, Nagios Core will always be free as in speech and beer. 2. Our commercial Nagios XI solution is not 100% Open Source, and it probably won't ever be in its entirety. There are some really great components that we license from other parties and we plan to include other licensed components in the future. Why? They provide a better solution to our customers than OSS alternatives (if they even exist). Most all other commercial Nagios solutions out there go the same route. 3. While its relatively new for Nagios Enterprises, commercialization of Nagios is going to expand in the future, so we can continue to provide more great solutions for the people that need them. Commercialization also makes it easier to provide resources to ensure the existing free OSS projects prosper, and that new projects can be funded. If you object to the commercialization of Nagios, consider this: the only reason I wrote Nagios and released it as an OSS project in the first place is because I intended to use it for commercial purposes. 4. We have, are, and will continue to regulate the use of the Nagios mark and prevent its misuse to ensure the integrity of the Nagios name and the future of the Nagios Project - just as I was personally doing long before the conception of Nagios Enterprises. Our trademark policy is almost an exact clone of the Ubuntu trademark policy. Its a great policy that fits the needs of both community advocacy and the commercial legal requirements for brand protection, anti-dilution, and consumer confusion. Open Source licenses like the GPL only address copyright - not trademark. Trademarks are a separate type of intellectual property that is out of scope with what copyright covers. 5. I've dedicated the past 11 years to the Nagios project and have done my best to keep the project going and keep it within the scope of what a monitoring engine should be. You can jump to all the conclusions you'd like, but unless you've dedicated several consecutive years to building, maintaining, and supporting a project like Nagios, you simply have no idea what it takes to take care of everything that happens along the way. The choices that I make are what I consider to be in the best interest of the project in the long run. You don't have to agree with me. I have no intention of trying to make each and every single Nagios user out there happy. It isn't possible. 6. There is nothing broken or wrong with Nagios Core the way it is. Its a monitoring *engine*. It works well for hundreds of thousands of users today. Many people still run Nagios 2.x, 1.x, or even NetSaint - because its works just the way it is. An integrated DB-backend, web based configuration engine, and a whole lot of other stuff are out of scope for Nagios Core - that's what addons are for. Even the Nagios Plugins are out of scope for Nagios Core - that's why they're a separate project. If you want something additional in Nagios, check out all the addons that are available on Nagios Exchange. Start your own addon project if a suitable one doesn't exist, or contribute to an existing project if you see a need for improvement. If you see a problem in Nagios Core, step up and make a patch. Don't complain if someone else doesn't produce something that you want. Lastly, I would urge you to wait a few hours and consider things carefully before you decide to fire off a flaming email insulting or making accusations towards myself, other core contributors, or community members. Its not only unprofessional and counterproductive, it is also somewhat self-defeating in that it is akin to biting the hand that feeds you. If you insult Nagios OSS developers, how do you expect new contributors to want to join the various Nagios projects and donate their free time to bring you great software? It doesn't make sense. I could have a hell of a time asking new people to join the teams if they expect to be treated poorly by people they're delivering free stuff to. Remember that people that contribute to OSS projects like Nagios generally do so in their free time, and of their own accord. You can't expect everyone to be available to you all the time, and at any time you wish. I don't owe you anything when it comes to the time I can commit to various projects and neither do the other people that contribute their time to Nagios projects. Period. - Ethan ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Download Intel® Parallel Studio Eval Try the new software tools for yourself. Speed compiling, find bugs proactively, and fine-tune applications for parallel performance. See why Intel Parallel Studio got high marks during beta. <a href="http://p.sf.net/sfu/intel-sw-dev" target="_blank">http://p.sf.net/sfu/intel-sw-dev</a> _______________________________________________ Nagios-devel mailing list <a href="mailto:Nagios-devel@lists.sourceforge.net">Nagios-devel@lists.sourceforge.net</a> <a href="https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/nagios-devel" target="_blank">https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/nagios-devel</a> </blockquote></div>