Forwarded message from David Rocks The responses to my original message brought up several points I should discuss. First, I need to make it clear as to my intent. I am not looking for an operating budget for hobbes. I merely would like some funds that would help maintain the system, such as replacing bad hard drives, adding memory, etc. I would also like there to some funds to help pay for student support but not to officially fund a student position for hobbes. So yes, funding for hobbes should at most be an occasional call for support. You have to understand that hobbes is and has been largely invisible to the university. At its highest there weren't more than a dozen OS/2 users on campus. I took on supporting comp.os2.binaries and then hobbes because I am an OS/2 user and supporter and I was able to take advantage of my position. What I did certainly can't be construed as part of the university's mission. I think hobbes has provided service to the world at large and is a project relevant to my job responsibility; supporting computing at my university. When asked I have always been able to provide 'adequate' justification, but mostly because hobbes never really bothered anyone. It didn't take much resources and did provide a training environment for student employees. What I was hoping to do by providing some funding for hobbes was to make it a 'real' project, not just my hobby. Through this I hope that after I leave the Computer Center at NMSU will have hobbes on their regular project list, and thus draw ongoing attention and support. Since the first note I have had discussions with the people here that would most likely to influence any decisions about hobbes. The Unix manager favors hobbes and sees no reason why he would want to discontinue it. The networking staff are always concerned about vulnerabilities on the campus network but when forced to think about it don't really see hobbes as a major threat. And the current CIO sees no issues and feels that if his unix manager feels hobbes has value and no one else complains, it is OK with him to have hobbes continue as an international resource. So to the final, most important point. No I can't guarantee the ongoing existence of hobbes, not even if I were to stay on forever. I don't think any other OS/2 site that might be set up could either. I do think some financial support could extend its existence into the near future and maybe for many years, possibly past when any of the responders might have any interest in OS/2. And even though separated from the university I will still be involved, as are most people who gave up a good part of their life to an institution of higher learning. At the least I am on the alumni solicitation list. I did have to come up with an acceptable termination rule for hobbes so the people at NMSU supporting it could establish a 'plan' for this project. So at NMSU, barring any need the university might have in the future, hobbes will go on as long as new items relevant to OS/2 are being uploaded to hobbes. That is the best offer I can make. ----------------------------------------------------- :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: FROM: David Rocks ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: [Moderator note: Please note that David Rocks is the maintainer of the http://hobbes.nmsu.edu OS/2 file repository. As has been reported previously, Mr. Rocks is going to be retiring from the University in the near future and is looking for a mechanism to keep the existing hobbes site viable.] I have decided that I would like to ask for support for hobbes and warn you that I will sporadically re-issue this call. I can't offer you guarantees but I believe that hobbes will exist for at least another year and hopefully another ten. I understand any reluctance to donate to an uncertain venture, but I have to add that hobbes' existence has always been uncertain. Nor can I make guarantees of performance, capacity, or reliability. hobbes will run as it always has and that is the best effort I can ask from the university. As it turns out the university is well organized for collecting donations. I looked at the Amazon Honor system site and am concerned that this wasn't actually what they originally intended, since as far as they can see hobbes has a large organization behind it and doesn't have the appearance of a private public service effort. The university can accept credit card donations online and check donations through the post. They will respond with a letter recognizing the donation, allowing those who wish and are able to, to deduct their donations from their taxes. Another advantage for using the university facilities is that the money will garner interest until used. The disadvantage is that they will have you on their mailing list. I discussed this with the comptroller and he stated that they mostly focus on NMSU alumni and rarely go to out again to other donors, but they will honor any request to be left alone. If there is enough demand I will try to initiate an Amazon Honor system site, which is the only sure way to know if they will allow it. So if you go to ' http://giving.nmsu.edu/ ', select "GIVE TODAY" from the navigation bar and then select the appropriate donation method. To target your donation for hobbes under 'Step 1" select 'where the need is greatest for' and write in HOBBES. If you do send a check write it on the check also. I have to say that I am personally uncomfortable about doing this. ----------------------------------------------------- Source: OS2VOICE
DATE & TIME: 02/06/05 at 11:09 PM Posted on comp.os.os2.misc:
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From:
Forwarded post from David Rocks' post to Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc
DATE & TIME: 02/06/05 at 11:10 PM ,
SUBJECT: support for hobbes, part 2
Hobbes has never solicitated external support before but I feel I need to do this to aid its future. I know other people are establishing new efforts to help provide long term support for OS/2. So I won't be disappointed if the OS/2 community feels it needs to put its support somewhere else. Hobbes will go on whether there are any donations or not for as long as it can. I can't say what that time frame is, just that I will try to make it as long as I can.
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