Zak Greant and 'Monty' Michael Widenius have temendous experience working with various FLOSS projects (like Mozilla, MySQL, PHP, etc.) and FLOSS companies (like eZ Systems, Mozilla, MySQL, Zend, etc.). They are now using this experience to develop a set of rules and principles on how to run an Open business model.
The notes detail both practical matters such as rules on how profit is shared, as well as the more abstract matters such as principles, goals and methods. The purpose of this discussion is to:
- Create a sustainable business model that can be adopted and adapted by others
- Create a fair and democratic company that is owned by the workers
- Have long-term, trustworthy and meaningful relationships with our staff and customers
The post goes on to detail the principles an opens ource business should follow, the tools that will help to maintain the priciples of the business, and rules for employees as well as the company. The discussion is generating a lot of interestest already, you can see the comments here.