Are you a charity? Why do we only want to release Open Source, General Public License software and solutions? How will the Coroporation determine the clientele it will serve? What are the Organization's fees? How will the Organization generate income? Could you use your General Public Licence software to promote your organization? Who are the members of the Inpito Board? Will you use the Indiana Non-Profit Information Technology Organzation Inc. to promote your own or other peoples software? How does the Inpito serve its mission? Do you have members? How is the revenue spent? Can Open Source, General Public License software be used to take advantage of people? Is Open Source, General Public License software secure? Would this Organization be a private benefit to Doyle Harpole concerning PassionX? Do you have an audited financial statements? What is important to the Inpito? How can I get involved?
Officially not yet. We are currently pursuing our 501c(3) status with the IRS but have not as yet obtained it.
The philosophy of any non-profit organization should be to serve society in some fashion, and to minimize, as much as it is possible, the burdens upon those they serve. Our organization the Indiana Non-Profit Information Technology Organization Inc. desires to maximize it's ability to serve the public and to minimize, as much as it is possible, the burdens upon those we serve. Developing Open Source, General Public License software meets this need where commercial, End User License Agreements would not. Developing Open Source, General Public License software would not only allow us to provide solutions to non-profit organizations, it would allow for those organizations to reproduce the software as often as they would desire, not to mention other non-profit organizations could benefits from using the software without the need to obtain our permission or obtaining additional licenses.
Common features covered by the End User License Agreements: * copying and redistributing is prohibited * may only be used on one computer with a maximum of 2 processors * cannot be used as a server without additional licensing * registration may be required * software may stop working if any hardware changes are made * updates could change the EULA if the corporation so wished * may only be transferred to another user only once * any new user must agree to the licensing terms * reverse engineering is prohibited * the corporation has the rights to collect information about the system and its use * the corporation has the right to supply this information to other organizations * the corporation has right to make changes to the computer without the users permission * typically warranted only for the first 90 days * there are no warranties on updates, fixes, or patches * the license may be time limited and require a renewal fee for further use
Common features found in the General Public License: * freedom to copy, modify and redistribute the software * precludes one party from preventing another from having these same freedoms * provides coverage for rights of users to copy, modify and redistribute the software * no warranty as there is no fee * can be sold if the user so decides * services for such software can be charged for * any patents must be licensed for everyone's use or not licensed at all * modified software must carry no licence fees * source code must be provided * if there is a change in license, the general terms of the existing one will be maintained * the license is perpetual and never needs to be renewed.
As you can see the common features of an End User License Agreement may be limiting to users, and providing solutions using such ELUAs would greatly reduce a software title's ability to be reproduced at an organizations desire. Some corporations that develop software may seem charitable when providing commercial software to non-profits for free, however those who receive the software are still bound by the EULA when operating and using the corporation's software, effectively giving a for-profit corporation the right to collect information about the non-profit organizations operations and sell that information to other for-profit organizations, thus the donation of the EULA software was not truely charatible.
Likewise, a corporations may seem charitable when providing hundreds of licenses to a non-profit organization, but when compared to a General Public License which is released with no limitations on the number of copies that can be distributed, it should be clear that "unlimited" is a greater number then any amount of copies donated by a corporation. For example, if "Corporation A" donated 1,000,000 licenses of "Operating System A" it may seem charitable until compared to providing a single copy of Slackware or PassionX, which could be copy, modify and redistribute 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times and still reproducible by the non-profit organization.
Similarly, a for-profit corporation may seem charitable when providing hundreds of licenses to a non-profit organization, but when compared to a General Public License which is released with no limitations on the number of copies that can be distributed, it should be clear that "unlimited" is a greater number then any amount of copies donated by a corporation. For example, if for-profit "Company A" donated 1,000,000 licenses of "Operating System A" it may seem charitable until compared to providing a single copy of Slackware or PassionX, which could be copied, and/or modify and redistribute 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 times and still be reproducible by the non-profit organization.
Likewise, a for-profit corporation may seem charitable when providing a program under an ELUA, however for-profit corporations may donate their software knowing the license will expire and the non-profit organization would have to renew the license, at a profit for the for-profit corporation. This exact scenario played itself out to First Baptist Church of Plymouth Indiana, when a license of Windows XP was donated, to the church, only to have the license expire a few years later. This scenario is much like a drug dealer providing a drug to a person until the person becomes addicted to the drug, then the dealer uses the addiction to take advantage of the person. Open Source, General Public License software however, has a perpetual never ending license that never needs to be renewed, effectively eliminating the drug deal scenario within the world of General Public License software.
As of December 8th of 2011, the Indiana Non-Profit Information Technology Organization Inc. determined to modify the bylaws of the organization as follows.
Section 2.01. Information Technology Solutions Provide up to and including free Information Technology solutions to non-profit organizations and to individuals who serve non-profit organizations as an officer, staff member or volunteer.
To that end we have developed the Indiana Non-Profit Information Technology Organization's Solution Determination Form that will aid us in determining those "Individuals" and "Organizations" who would qualify for Information Technology solution assistance by us. This form will help us to determine the information we need to provide a solution and to determine who qualifies as an "Individual" and "Organization" when applyng to our organization for assistance. All "Organizations" must be non-profit organizations, and all "Individuals" must be an officer, staff member, or volunteer at a non-profit organization. The "Solution Determination Form" can be obtained by right clicking on the link and selecting "Save Link As" in your Firefox browser.
Currently we are refusing to except any payment of any kind until we either recieve or are denied 501(c)(3) status. However if or when we receive our 501(c)(3) status our fees will be as follows:
Hardware Troubleshooting And Repair -- Freewill donation from $0.00 to any amount below market cost. Web Development -- Freewill donation from $0.00 to any amount below market cost. Information Technology Solutions -- Freewill donation from $0.00 to any amount below market cost. Network Implementation -- Freewill donation from $0.00 to any amount below market cost. Data Recovery -- Freewill donation from $0.00 to any amount below market cost. Digital Multimedia -- Freewill donation from $0.00 to any amount below market cost. Educational Material Development -- Freewill donation from $0.00 to any amount below market cost.
Freewill donation solicitations in many forms, including donations, gifts, grants, fundraisers, promotions, advertisements, and more. Our plan is to never charge fees and allow any person the freewill to contribute as they see fit. It may seem idealistic and unrealistic but it's an ideal that is compatible with the philosophy of the Indiana Non-Profit Information Technology Organization serving society in some fashion, and minimizing, as much as it is possible, the burdens upon those we serve.
That's a great ideal! Our hope is to developed Open Source, General Public License software as solutions to benefit others while promoting the Indiana Non-Profit Information Technology Organization Inc. Non-profit organizations such as NPower, Techsoup, and Technology Service Corps use their non-profit status to promote "for-profit" corporation's software and solutions. Npower, Techsoup, and Technology Service Corps are fully qualified 501(c)(3) organizations promoting and providing "for-profit" corporation's software, and solutions through their non-profit organizations. The non-profit organizations served by NPower, and Techsoup and under privileged people learning through Technology Service Corps are still subject to the limitations of the "for-profit" commercial licensed software or EULA associated with corporate software, limiting those non-profit organization from copying, modifying and redistributing the solutions they have been provided by NPower, and Techsoup and the learning martials provided by Technology Service Corps.
The software released by the Indiana Non-Profit Information Technology Organization Inc. will have all the benefits of copying, modifying and redistributing under the terms of the General Public License. This also allows any non-profit organization the rights to modify our software to remove any materials we've developed within the software for promoting our own organization, effectively eliminating our software from being used to promote our organization. Commercial software however, commonly prohibits any derived works not allowing a non-profit to remove any content that would promote a commercial corporation. So you could say, our software may starts out self promoting but allows for the removal of such promotion, where as the commercial software solutions and educational materials provided by NPower, Techsoup, and Technology Service Corps start out promoting "for-profit" corporations and do not allow for anyone to remove the "for-profit" corporation's self promoting logos and information.
Doyle Harpole's Linux distribution called "PassionX" being under a General Public License can also be modified to remove all content that would promote Doyle Harpole, or his software. Can Npower, Techsoup, and Technology Service Corps make the same claims on the "for-profit" corporate software they provide as solutions and educational materials by Cisco (Routers), Microsoft (Windows, Office), Symantec (Nortons Antivirus), Intuit (Quickbooks), FileMaker Inc. (Filemake Pro), Adobe (Creative Suite, and others), Citrix Online (GoToMyPC), and several more software titles? We have not yet found any allowance within any of these "for-profit" corporate software titles that would allow us to modify and remove the self promotion of the "for-profit" corporation's software logos, and self promotional information.
In addition the Indiana Non-Profit Information Technology Organization Inc. could develop software to promote the non-profit organization within the solutions being developed, benefiting both organizations. For example we could develop "PassionX - Rachel Home Edition", or "PassionX - First Baptist Church Edition". Where as I have not yet witnessed any non-proft organization versions of Microsoft Windows, or Mac O.S., something like "Microsoft Windows 7 - Boys and Girls Club Edition", or "Mac O.S. - Hope Mission Edition". The Indiana Non-Profit Information Technology Organization believes developing software for both our organization and other non-profit organizations for mutual promotion is a great advantage of General Public License software that out weighs any advantages offered by commercially licensed software.
Currently only Jerry, and Doyle have shown an interest in taking an active role in developing the organization. We do hope more people will take an active role soon.
As of December 15th of 2011, the Indiana Non-Profit Information Technology Organization Inc. determined to modify the bylaws of the organization as follows:
Section 2.04. Release Intellectual Properties Release intellectual properties of the Corporation, as Open Source, under a General Public License, and all other Content release by the Corporation will be released under a Creative Commons License.
We hope to promote several Open Source, General Public License software titles, not being tied to any particular vendor or distrobution. The goal is to resovle the Information Technology needs of the clientele we serve, with the least amount of burden upon them. Using our own and other peoples Open Source, General Public License software titles will allow us to accomplish this agenda with a greater effectivness. We have also modified our bylaws to include content in addition to source code.
Since the December 8th and 15th of 2011 edification of our bylaws Section 2.01. Information Technology Solutions, and Section 2.04. Release Intellectual Properties, the Indiana Non-Profit Information Technology Organization Inc. is conducting no activity that is not being conducted by a fully qualified 501(c)(3) non-profit organization already in existence. The Indiana Non-Profit Information Technology Organization Inc. however, is accomplishing such activities with less of a burden upon those we sever then some of the other full qualified 501(c)(3) organizations. ... For Example:
We provide Information Technology solutions, like the fully qualified 501(c)(3) organization "Npower", only we do not and will not change $75 to $110 per hour, we will charge a freewill donation from $0.00 to any amount below market cost, reducing the burden upon those we sever, neither are our solutions tied to any particular vendor.
We will help raise awareness about other non-profit organization's needed Information Technology solutions, similar to the fully qualified 501(c)(3) organization "The United Way" but specifically targeting Information Technologies, not tying any solutions to any particular vendor.
We will use adequate hardware donated to the Corporation to aid qualified Individuals and Organizations, like the fully qualified 501(c)(3) organizations "Freegeek" and "Techsoup".
We will release intellectual properties of the Corporation, as Open Source, under a General Public License, like the fully qualified 501(c)(3) organization "Mozilla" and all other Content release by the Corporation will be released under a Creative Commons License, like the fully qualified 501(c)(3) organization "Wikipedia", again not tying any content to any particular vendor.
Provide designated campaign donations to qualified Individuals and Organizations for freelance Information Technology projects, like the fully qualified 501(c)(3) organization "The United Way" but specifically targeting Information Technologies, again not tying any project to any particular vendor.
Provide up to and including free education designated by the Corporations, like the fully qualified 501(c)(3) organization "Technology Service Corps", but releasing such materials under a Creative Commons License, like the fully qualified 501(c)(3) organization "Wikipedia", again not tying any materials to any particular vendor.
Yes, but we do not charge any membership fees. When we incorporated we decided to establish a membership for the purpose of community not revenue. We have envisioned that some time in our organizations future to hold conferences to help educate and promote I.T. in the non-profit world and having a general membership to work together with would be a blessing to us, as we at times find it difficult to relate I.T. issues to casual end users. So for us to have members who could relate the I.T. solutions in better laymen terms would be advantageous to us.
Technically we have no revenue ... yet, Doyle & Jerry have been finding inventive ways to provide I.T. solutions at nearly no cost. However, we know this will not last forever, and without receiving financial aid the Inpito's future could become difficult.
If you can find a way to use Open Source, General Public License software to take advantage of people, you have information that Microsoft and other "for-profit" software corporations would pay hundreds of billions of dollars for. GNU and the Free Software Foundation have taken a great deal of effort to ensure that anyone desiring to use General Public License software to take advantage of other people would not be able to ( http://www.gnu.org/gnu/thegnuproject.html ).
However, do to a great deal of misinformation by commercial corporations and their benefactors many people still lack a proper understanding of how well Open Source, General Public License software fights to protects the freedom of software and the freedom of it's development.
Yes, in fact many of the security issues found in Open Source, General Public License software are resolved far quicker then in commercial software, which is why it's the predominant operating system for Internet hosting servers. Certain commercial packages like Microsoft Windows took years to fix security issues with their ADS streams, and it is common for the commercial software companies to spin security issues as features to the uneducated masses. While hackers and program developers realize the truth about the security issue and may develop applications to exploit it. On the other hand Open Source, General Public License software can be examined by any individual for any security issues, or exploits, and modified, or removed before the program is even compiled, let alone installed or ran.
If PassionX was commercial software and if the Indiana Non-Profit Information Technology Organization Inc. only promoted his Operating System it would hold the possibility of being a private benefit, but no more so then Woody Sessoms of Cisco, Bill Veghte of HP, and Christopher Wearing of Accenture who are all "Officers" of the non-profit organization NPower. These three individuals are "Officers" of Npower and are employees at the same "for-profit" companies that sponsor the non-profit organization Npower, and provide solutions through Npower from those same "for-profit" corporate sponsors the primary difference being that all three of these gentlemen work for "for-profit" corporations, providing commercial solutions through a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
Where as Doyle Harpole's PassionX is an Open Source, General Public License software title, currently being provided for "Free" and/or when we receive our 501(c)(3) status a freewill donation from $0.00 to any amount below market cost. Not to mention, Doyle Harpole has not created a business around the PassionX Linux distribution and it is not commercial "for-profit" software it is Open Source, General Public License software and is subject to all the freedoms of copying, modifying and redistributing, as any other Open Source, General Public License software title. In fact there are people who have already created alternate Linux distributions based off of Doyle Harpole's PassionX, such as Richard Hill's "Lone Wolf Linux" and although Mr. Hill is using Open Source scripts developed by Doyle Harpole and myself ( Jerry Nettrouer II ), Mr. Hills has not promoted, accredited, or acknowledged either Doyle Harpole, or myself, within the "Lone Wolf Linux" distribution in any way.
Likewise, it is the hope of the Indiana Non-Profit Information Technology Organization Inc. to promote several Open Source, General Public License software titles, by numerous individuals, groups, and organizations, not limiting ourselves to any one Open Source, General Public License software title vendor. We have already installed and configured the Slackware Linux distributions on computers for Rachel's Home and First Baptist Church.
Slackware Linux is an Open Source, General Public License Linux based Operating System, developed by Patrick Volkerding. Mr. Volkerding has no ties or associations with the Indiana Non-Profit Information Technology Organization Inc. We however have found Slackware to be a very reliable Linux distribution and decided to use Slackware as the solution for those organizations, offing no special benefit or favoritism to PassionX.
Therefore if it is an inappropriate matter for Doyle Harpole to be a "Officer" of the Indiana Non-Profit Information Technology Organization Inc. while providing a "FREE" Open Source, General Public License software title with no business created around the software, then I would have to ask why organizations such as Npower would have been given their 501(c)(3) status by the IRS when they have "Officers" who make decisions to provide "COMMERCAIL" solution through Npower that benefit their "for-profit" corporate employers.
We know providing information about our organization is important, but at our current state a finical audit would only consist of a lot of zeros. Currently the PO Box, the website and domains, and finally government fees, are all owned and payed for by Jerry B Nettrouer II . Everything else we have done has been GPLed, or developed by us through a lot of hours of work, using our own personal resources.
Whoever if seeing the numbers helps you better you can download a pdf of our 2009 IRS 990EZ and our 2010 IRS 990EZ by clicking on the link.
Our prime directive is accomplish Our Mission and fulfill our Corporations Purposes. Our big question to you is, 'do you want to be apart of what we are doing?' To state it plainly "We are geeks" we enjoy providing I.T. solutions, we would enjoy it even more if you would join us in accomplishing these good works, but if these good works are not your thing we however will continue in them for as long as we are able
You can contact us, the information is on the top left side of the web page, just under the Navigation. You could help us in accomplishing the projects we take on. Help to promote us. Just think of a way to help and jump on board.