Honor Payment
Open Source technology is often proposed to be available to the community that are the developers and users of the technology without any charge. However, the Creative Commons Public License that I (Richard Nelson) have adopted to govern my core technology contribution (establishing this community) has conditions for commercial use. The non-commercial users are also asked to honor these same basic commitments, which are based on concepts of "ethical use" rather than to reference to a legal code.
The concept of Ethical Use? is an important value in the envisioned "culture" of the Sola Roof Community. Sola Roof will therefore pioneer a new value system for the Open Source movement, which is fundamentally different than the prevailing GPL, or General Public License? (as used for Linux and other Open Software?). The GPL frameworks emerged from early collaborations to create Public Domain? Software - such as the Unix OS developed under the banner of the Free Software Foundation?. In this framework the IP - or creative work - was to be essentially "free" and the improvements and derivative works also to be accessible, used and distributed without charge or cost.
It is my proposal that if all the Sola Roof developer and user community (both commercial and non-commercial) were to contribute 1% of gross income that is generated in savings or in sales - that these commercial/financial benefits of use will then empower the wider commercial adoption of this technology, which will bring many social benefits to all communities. The concept is like that of "putting water back into the well". These funds would go to the intended Sola Roof Foundation and it's activity will support the establishment of SE Net, our social enterprise network - which are community based and locally owned sustainable enterprise that apply Sola Roof technology. At the heart of the SE Net is the plan to establish an Open Eco Center in communities everywhere - together forming the OEC Net (see also Open Eco Center Network).
This proposal is not legalistic, it is an ethical obligation for the commercial users who wish to be socially responsible members of the Sola Roof community - businesses who transparently give back and support the growth and development of Sola Roof as an Open Standard? for all commercial users to benefit from best practices that would be shared by leaders with all members of the global community. Secondly, there is an ethical requirement of all non-commercial users to also make a similar contribution out of the benefits and financial rewards of using Sola Roof that will be dedicated to "Pay It Forward" humanitarian programs that support sustainable living projects for the homeless and people living in poverty. These Grass Roots projects would be funded, in part, by contributions from the general community of Sola Roof users, including the anticipated vast numbers of the DIY community.
DIY members will mostly be families and the idea here is that we can connect families with "ways in means" with other families that survive on "hopes and dreams" and by establishing a vision for a planet without homelessness and poverty at this grassroots level we can eliminate the cause of poverty and establish the foundations for lasting and sustainable prosperity in every community. Concurrently, this vision of Eco Living lifestyle will provide a real and very rapidly delivered solution for key global challenges, including Global Warming.
The Honor Payment is the seed money that will rapidly regenerate communities everywhere through a cooperative commercial principle - that will replace less effective competitive business models. Abundance is the result of working in harmony with others and with the benefit of synergy with nature. The benefit of contributing the Honor Payment (Pay It Forward for non-commercial users) will be so great that many will give much more out of their surplus.
Life Synthesis as a global business group would be an exemplar member of the SE Net, with the goal of returning as much as 50% of our profit to the Sola Roof Foundation.