As I said, I've been travelling. back now, and just catching up here. There were probably too many words in my last post.
Contributions to Moodle: two thoughts
- From Martin , "I can't publicly go into all the real reasons why RL left, but it's clear to anyone that by not being a partner Remote Learner is now contributing even less than it might have been before"
It's not clear to me. It seems you can contribute to Moodle if you are not a Partner. As I said, it depends how you define "Moodle" If RL focuses on plugins and these become available to the world, then the contribution can be beneficial to coder payer (ie RL) and public (Moodle plugin users)
I also note the post in eLiterate last week. I could ask "Is Moodle bigger than MoodleHQ"? - I asked previously, with no response: "Can anyone give $$ to the Association, or is it JUST membership fees?" In other words for instance can a foundation (eg Ted and Flora Hewitt) donate a gift.
I note Martin's comment regarding RL "In any case they cannot actually even join the Moodle Association as commercial LMS service providers are not eligible" http://mfeldstein.com/interview-with-martin-dougiamas-on-changes-to-moodle-community-this-year/
I have now found the relevant line in the document:
"Organisations whose primary function is to provide commercial LMS services (such as hosting, consulting, training, development etc) may not be members of the Moodle Association"
I missed this. I can't see the rationale for this.
So I'm assuming no, you can only give membership fees.
I think I am approaching the end of my engagement in these issues around the future of Moodle and how the Moodle ecosystem is really working - or not.
They are important issues to me: can I have confidence in the Moodle ecosystem from here on out?? It's a little difficult to know at the moment.
-Derek