*MACE Conference Call*
November 28, 2005

*Attendees*

Bob Morgan (chair) - Washington
Leif Johansson - Stockholm/SUNET
Diego Lopez - RedIRIS
Steve Carmody - Brown
Michael Gettes - Duke
Tom Barton - Chicago
Steve Olshansky - Internet2
Neal McBurnett - Internet2
Lynn McRae - Stanford
Scott Cantor - OSU
Rodney McDuff - Queensland
Walter Hoehn - Memphis
David Wasley - independent
Renee Frost - Michigan/Internet2
Ken Klingenstein - Colorado/Internet2
Keith Hazelton - Wisconsin
Jim Jokl - Virginia
Ben Chinowsky (scribe) - Internet2

*Discussion*

EuroCAMP went well; presentations are at http://www.terena.nl/tech/eurocamp/nov05/programme.html. The next EuroCAMP is being scheduled for spring in Slovenia, and will probably focus more on applications.

The group discussed prospects for a subscription model for MACE middleware once the Internet2/NLR merger has been completed. Keith suggested that a "hybrid strategy" might be necessary, with direct support for current projects, and support via subscription further down the line; Ken agreed that startup funds would be needed. David stressed that we don't want to set things up so that everybody just pays for the pieces they use; Bob said that subscriptions would have to be to MACE middleware as a whole, not to individual pieces of it. It appears that there are few successful examples of the subscription model.

There was also discussion of management structures for individual MACE projects, Shibboleth in particular. Continued informality is likely to make it increasingly difficult to keep bringing in new contributors. Bob suggested looking into adopting something like the Jabber model, which centers on a repository of proposals. Leif suggested making use of SourceForge or similar sites; he noted that these sites are popular with smaller projects seeking to build a community.