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Re: [ga] Matters to discuss
On Mon, Feb 21, 2000 at 03:03:37PM +0100, Harald Tveit Alvestrand wrote:
> Now that the list is a quiet place to work, it would be a shame if we still
> couldn't get any work done.......
>
> the immediate questions confronted by the GA (and therefore valid items for
> discussion on the GA list) are:
[various process issues]
On the other hand, we could discuss some actual business, instead of
the endless stuff about process. Here's what I think is a real
business item:
I would like to call people's attention to
http://www.dnso.org/clubpublic/council/Arc03/msg00428.html
entitled "[council] DNSO budget proposal". I reproduce the salient
parts, below:
> Staff
> * 2 persons:
> - 1 Senior Assistant Elisabeth (1/2 time)
> - 1 Junior Assistant (full time)
> - Sub contracts for the technical tasks (< engineers)
>
> Salaries: 75 000
> Charges and Offices accomodation: 75 000
>
> * Web Hosting/Machines/Connectivity: 25 000
> * Teleconference: 20 pers x 2hours x 25tele/year 15 000
> * Travels: 10 000$ x 2 persons 20 000
> * GA Chair + Alternate chair:
> Only Travels and telephone are paid. 20 000
> * Unexpected 10 000
> * Accounting and Billing 5% of all expenses 12 000
>
> TOTAL ~ 250 000U$
>
> Benefits:
>
> 125 000 to be paid by Constituencies
> 125 000 to be paid by ICANN
>
> To be negotiate with the ICANN Board
> Names council = the travels and arrangements? Who is paying?
> All public meetings : 4 annual meetings + webcast to be charged to ICANN +
> Legal advice if needed
> 19 Persons in NC
With some exceptions, these costs seem high. I am especially concerned
because, bluntly, some constituencies have much more money than others.
But perhaps more important than the cost per se is the basic appoach
being taken -- different constituencies have different ways of
getting work done; some depend a great deal on volunteer efforts.
- Concerning "Web Hosting / Machines / Connectivity": In the US *very*
full-featured web hosting can be had for < $100/month, with multiple
email lists, and so on. More directly, excellent colocation space can
be had for ~$500/month -- that would include space for two powerful
machines, which would give a complete redundant backup. High quality,
powerful server machines can be had for about $3000 each.
- What are the tasks that the full-time junior assistant would
perform? Currently I know that maintaining the DNSO site occupies a
great deal of Elisabeth's time, but there must be a bunch of new tasks
predicted for this new person, and it would be good to know what they
are -- I am having a hard time imagining what they might be.
- Since there is a lot of overhead in office space, I wonder if
economies might be achieved by using ICANN's office space, instead of
separate office space.
Finally, I have a more general concern -- "lockin". If there is
anything we should all be *very* aware of, it is the danger of
committing yourself to a single vendor for provision of service.
Please understand that I think that Elisabeth has done a great job.
But if we are transitioning from a volunteer service to a hired
service, then we must consider things from a different angle.
Kent
--
Kent Crispin "Do good, and you'll be
kent@songbird.com lonesome." -- Mark Twain
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