Re: Resolution 1999-08-03.nl: Guidelines for Equipment and Service Donations

On Thu, Aug 05, 1999 at 06:36:54PM +0200, Nils Lohner wrote:
> Aah, yes, that was it: since this is donated equipment, technically we can
> do with it what we want (this is why a 'donation' is defined in teh second
> paragraph!). Ean was adamant about this point however: If you use a
> donation for something other than its intended purpose, you risk upsetting
> the donor, hence as a courtesy we should inform them of what we are going to
> do with it. This off course is easier to apply for equipment than for
> services.

My point was this, if a donor gives SPI a piece of equipment and says that
they have no preference what we do with it then great, no worries. But, lets
say that VA donates 10 Quad Xeons to us and says, "we want you to turn these
systems into a Beowulf test bed", we shouldn't be able to accept those systems
and then offer a 15 day notice that we have instead decided to give them to
members of the Debian Cabal (which, of course, does not exist).

The idea is, if the donor has a preference they should be able to specify
the terms of their donation. If we do not like the terms then we should turn
down the donation. But I think that we would miss out on some large donations
if we don't offer some sort of gaurantee of use.

E

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Ean Schuessler An oderless programmer work-a-like
Novare International Inc. Silent and motionless
--- Some or all of the above signature may be a joke