GNUBiz / experiences

[João Miguel Neves]

Well, I was one of a group of people who tried building such a
cooperative in Portugal, but failed. Issues included accountability
(who's responsible for what, particularly replying to RFPs), payments
(who receives what) and general coordination. Eventually we had 2/3
highly motivated people that tried to push it forward, but these
discussions turned all work impossible and didn't allow us to reply
quickly to inquiries. Obviously the problems weren't formal ones, but
related to people.

Eventually I convinced myself that it wasn't going to work when we
failed to reply to the enquiry on a big desktop deployment project after
having done a complete proposal.

In the meantime I created my own company (Intraneia -
http://www.intraneia.com/ ) and we're going for the free software
support business for micro, small and medium enterprises (server and
desktop). The company exists since March and the contracts we have now
pay for all the bills. If things continue this way, I'll probably be
hiring within the next 6 months (which is more than I hoped for).

Cooperating with others would be great particularly as it has been setup
according to the GBN definition I had. Having worked with free software
people before, coordinating people and/or companies is the most
difficult task I've faced (yes, I do think lobbying politicians is
easier).

Ter, 2005-05-24 às 22:58 +0200, Davi Leal escreveu:
> Jeremiah Foster wrote:
> > I think the idea for a *cooperative* is an excellent one. It would allow
> > groups and individuals an opportunity to communicate and share
> > experiences. And I agree that it ought not to interfere with
> > consultancies or individuals who are earning their living supporting
> > Free Software.

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