Free Software Cooperatives

• see also Worker-Owned Tech Collectives such as the Tech Co-op Network

Directory

Global

• Patio Community

Argentina

Federación Argentina de Cooperativas de Trabajo de Tecnología, Innovación y Conocimiento Members

1. FACTTIC's Members

Cooperatives

1. Cooperativa de Trabajo Tecso Limitada
2. Gcoop
3. Unixono
4. Equality
5. Pressenter
6. Moldeo
7. Fiqus
8. Elvex
9. It-10
10. Devecoop
11. Colectivo Libre
12. Cambá
13. Geneos
14. Bantics
15. Cottic
16. Coprinf
17. Bitson

Belgium

1. Damnet à Namur www.damnet.be

Brazil

1. Colivre Cooperativa de Tecnologias Livres
2. SOLIS - Brazil, Júnior Mulinari <junior@solis.coop.br>

Also:

• Joice Käfer <joice@brod.com.br>

Canada

1. Praxis Labs Coop "We are a worker's cooperative based in Montreal. We share an interest in web technologies and direct democracy. We specialize in building hosting, development and continuous integration systems."

1. Réseau Koumbit: "Koumbit est un fier partisan des groupes communautaires et militants locaux et internationaux. Les choix technnologiques que nous proposons sont adaptés aux besoins de ces groupes, et construits uniquement avec des logiciels libres."

France

1. BearsTech; "une société de services en logiciel libre spécialisée dans l'hébergement et l'administration système" ; "la coopérative de production (SCOP), à taille humaine, avec un mode de gestion démocratique et une idée du management furieusement novatrice. "
2. Easter Eggs [1] - France: "We're all hackers (actually 12 hackers + 3 commercial) and work for customers on various free software to make money. On our spare time, we hack upon free software on our spare time. We are based on a democratic system where all co-workers have one voice to elect the CEO for the coming year, and vote for various needed stuff. We have all the same salary (even commercial) and we share benefits every year. It exists since 11 years." [2]
3. UT7: "/ut7 est une coopérative auto-gérée par ses salariés, une société de conseil en informatique et un organisme agréé de formation. Elle héberge depuis 2008 un collectif de programmeurs expérimentés se réclamant du mouvement des méthodes agiles de développement logiciel, et disposant d'une très solide expertise sur le sujet."

India

1. OSSICS, Kerala, India
2. WikiOcean, Pune, India, uses Weko/Reppo based governance system. Contact for info: pungaliya.ag@gmail.com

South Korea

1. Actus, a pioneering South Korean IT firm that is one of that country’s first high-profile companies to transition from a traditional ownership model under a new law defining cooperative businesses. [3]

Spain

• ENREDA

UK

1. software.coop has members in London, Norfolk, Somerset, Berkshire, Cumbria and Edinburgh; formed 2002, the co-op hosts sites, develops web apps and managers servers for most sectors (including commercial); committed to Free and Open Source Software, the co-op includes a debian developer and a former Koha release manager; contact via http://www.software.coop/contact/
2. Webarchitects: a Sheffield based Co-operative who have been producing websites in the progressive, educational and community sectors for over a decade; "We use and develop Free-Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) in all our work, and are able to provide sysadmin support on Client and third party servers. We are committed to sustainable development and aim to deliver all our services using renewable energy."

see also:

1. The Open Co-op, UK

US

1. Agaric
2. Chicago Technology Cooperative
3. Electric Embers Cooperative: "an ecologically, economically, and socially responsible worker cooperative that provides Internet hosting services and support to nonprofits, cooperatives, artists, and others contributing to the common good." (West Coast)
4. Flywheel Tech Collective, Cleveland
5. GaiaHost: "Internet hosting services from a worker-owned cooperative dedicated to environmental and social sustainability"
6. Gnusha [4], USA (into open manufacturing, hacklab/fablab infrastructues, etc.)
7. May First: May First/People Link is a politically progressive member-run and controlled organization that redefines the concept of "Internet Service Provider" in a collective and collaborative way.
8. TechCollective (Bay Area)

See also:

• Network of American Tech Worker Cooperatives tech-coop email discussion list ; How to guide

• the directory of Tech Co-op Network North, "the network of North American tech worker co-ops".

Others

1. Ikusnet - Spain
2. OS Alliance, Austria, "Georg Pleger" <gp@osalliance.com> ; Roland Alton-Scheidl <ras@osalliance.com>; Eric Poscher <ep@osalliance.com>
3. Pong - Switzerland

Other contacts:

1. Rama <rama@xicnet.com>

Inactive?:

1. KunLabori Collaborative, Sweden (no longer active, according to Josef Davies-Coates, May 2008)

See also:

1. HostSharing eG - a german coop specialising on ISP Services

More Information

1. Spanish-language discussion list, maintained by Gcoop in Argentina: Cooperativismo y el Software Libre
2. Cooperativas de Software Livre <cooperativas@listas.softwarelivre.org>
3. Video: Richard Esplin on Open Source Cooperative Models for Software and Technology
4. Video Cooperative's Code
5. the directory of Tech Co-op Network North, "the network of North American tech worker co-ops".

Related Initiatives

1. The Telekommunisten collective [[5]]
2. Open Source Hackers Cooperative
3. OpenCoopt, for nonprofits