The future of the elementary OS distribution is in question due to a conflict among the project's founders, who cannot reach an agreement on the company overseeing development and managing incoming funds.
The company was co-founded by two founders — Cassidy Blaede and Danielle Foré (formerly Daniel Foré), who worked on the project full-time and received funding from donations during the installation of builds and providing technical support. Due to a decline in financial performance amid the coronavirus pandemic, funding has decreased, and the company was forced to cut employee salaries by 5%. A meeting was planned for February to further reduce the budget, with an initial proposal to cut the owners' salaries.
Before the meeting, Cassidy Blaede announced that he had accepted an offer to work for another company. He wished to retain his shares, remain among the company's owners, and continue participation in decision-making. Danielle Foré disagreed with this position, as she believed that those who are directly developing the project should manage it. The co-owners discussed the possibility of dividing the company’s assets in such a way that the company would remain entirely in Danielle's hands, while Cassidy would receive half of the funds remaining in the account ($26,000) for his share.
After the preparation of documents for the transaction to transfer the share in the company began, Danielle received a letter from a lawyer representing Cassidy's interests, which proposed new terms — a payment of $30,000 now, $70,000 over the next 10 years, and ownership of 5% of the shares. After pointing out that the initial agreements were quite different, the lawyer explained that these were preliminary discussions and Cassidy had not given his final consent to those terms. The increase in the sum was justified by the desire to seek compensation in case the company is sold in the future.
Daniela vägrade att acceptera de nya villkoren och ansåg att de vidtagna åtgärderna var ett svek från Cassidy. Daniela anser att de ursprungliga avtalen är rättvisa och är redo att ta 26 000 och gå, men hon avser inte att ta på sig åtaganden som senare kan leda henne i skuld. Cassidy svarade att han inte var överens med de första villkoren, och därför involverade han en jurist. Daniela påpekade att om de inte kan komma överens om att överföra företagsledning till henne, är hon redo att lämna projektet och gå med i en annan gemenskap. Projektets öde är nu osäkert, då situationen inte kunnat lösas på nästan en månad, och de återstående pengarna i företaget går huvudsakligen till löner, och det är troligt att co-ägarna snart inte har något kvar att dela.
Källa: opennet.ru
