The two things I generally think about with regards to sponsor influence on software foundations are:
1. If the sponsor is a software vendor, does the funding enable them to secure a marketplace advantage over competing vendors? For example do they gain a majority on a steering committee, or fund a critical mass of foundation-employed developers?
2. Does the funding enable the sponsor to unduly influence an official or de facto standard which impacts a marketplace outside of software? (For example, web protocols: see https://httpd.apache.org/ABOUT_APACHE.html#why-free )
I think you've properly identified "good will and the dependence on funding" as sources of potential undue influence. The structure of the foundation is supposed to guard against that. But more to the point, it's hard to imagine how Facebook would be able to leverage undue influence over the Rust Foundation: they aren't competing against Rust vendors, and it's unclear what public standards could be subverted via the Rust Foundation in a way which could benefit Facebook.
In the past, Rust release announcements have come with statements like this:
«
The Rust Core Team believes that tech is and always will be political, and we encourage everyone take the time today to learn about [US-centered political issue of the day]
»
I suppose this makes it less likely that Facebook finds themselves being the issue of the day.
Too much. It goads people in the Rust community to pretend to think Facebook is well-meaning company. I'm going to continue thinking Facebook doesn't care about people, even when they're being killed by the thousands, and I'm more comfortable doing that as someone who uses Vue and Python and not Rust.
Facebook contributes a ton to the Linux and Python communities as well, by this logic you shouldn’t use either.
Thinking that infrastructure engineers have direct influence over the product is wrong. Instead they work at Facebook because it is a good means to being paid lots of money to contribute to open source.
Btw, getting out of us vs. them mentality will form a healthier community and result in more positive changes. You can call Facebook on shit without generalizing against the employees who work there.
> You can call Facebook on shit without generalizing against the employees who work there.
I disagree. It's this behavior and lack of disinfectant (sunlight) that allows companies to get away with the amount of crimes against humanity they do. Saying "Tech" isn't political, or "I'm just an engineer somebody else is in charge" is how horror happens.
I never said "Tech" isn't political, or that "I'm just an engineer somebody else is in charge". Both are true and we best take time to think of the moral implications of our work.
What I am saying, is that you should not generalize people just because they worked or currently work at a big tech company. This is as much a cognitive bias as thinking a company like Facebook only does good.
You have no clue why they work there, what they work on, or who they are.
It’s more the other way around — big cos are endorsing Rust and joining the nascent foundation. It’s perfectly reasonable for a three month old foundation for a popular new language to be in the news quite a bit, and for its sponsors to enjoy the attention that goes with it
The Rust Foundation is really new, it just started in February. That's probably why you've been hearing a lot of news about corporate Rust sponsorships recently, or if not "a lot" then more than you've heard about, say, corporate Python sponsorships.
Not much other than reflecting the reality that BigCos are using rust in production, and as a result, have a vested interest in the project's governance. This is true for pretty much every popular language of software with an open governance model.
Meet with the PSF Board of Directors
Opportunity to meet with the PSF Board of Directors to discuss a topic of your choosing. The health and sustainability of our community is important to many organizations and we want to make sure community needs are heard and noted.
For visionary sponsors:
Meet with the Python Steering Council
Opportunity to meet with the Steering Council to discuss technical aspects of Python or feedback you may have, or just a Q&A with the Steering Council. The health and sustainability of Python is critical to many organizations and we want to make sure community needs are heard and noted.
1. If the sponsor is a software vendor, does the funding enable them to secure a marketplace advantage over competing vendors? For example do they gain a majority on a steering committee, or fund a critical mass of foundation-employed developers?
2. Does the funding enable the sponsor to unduly influence an official or de facto standard which impacts a marketplace outside of software? (For example, web protocols: see https://httpd.apache.org/ABOUT_APACHE.html#why-free )
I think you've properly identified "good will and the dependence on funding" as sources of potential undue influence. The structure of the foundation is supposed to guard against that. But more to the point, it's hard to imagine how Facebook would be able to leverage undue influence over the Rust Foundation: they aren't competing against Rust vendors, and it's unclear what public standards could be subverted via the Rust Foundation in a way which could benefit Facebook.