Marcus,

> I don't know about the situation in US, but basically, I got the
> impression that Firebird is very internationally composed so it
> doesn't necessarily need to be US based.

I don't either really, I'm in Australia, further south than Helen, but not
far from Mark I suspect.

> Also the meritocracy aspect would merit some detailed study,
> especially the question under what conditions members who don't
> contribute to the project anymore would also leave the association.

I believe that Apache uses a model which may help here also.

I'll try to find time to take a look.

Cheers
Adam