Easter-eggs - a libre company
Founded in 1997, Easter-eggs is one of the most experienced service providers in the field of free and open source software in France. As GNU/Linux specialists we cover the whole field of services:
- Installation, Administration and System Security (Servers, Gateways, Firewalls, ...)
- Software adaptation in GNU/Linux environnements
- Development following specifications
- Consultancy, audit and training
A democratic company
Easter-eggs is a new kind of company, a libre company. which is based on the values of freedom and openness. Easter-eggs is dedicated to employment and development of free software and respects the spirit of hackers.
Respecting the spirit of hacking means to take the values of freedom and openness seriously. We therefore set up a structure that allows the employees to freely choose their destination and control the company in a democratic way. It is the employees that determine by election not only the management, but also other important strategic decisions. Employees are equal in all rights and duties. The model we want to promote is that of a company which is controlled by hackers in the service of the community.
For this reason Easter-eggs’ capital is exclusively in the hands of its employees. The company is owned by the non-for-profit association easter-eggs.org which members are the company’s employees.
It is this legal construction which makes it possible to preserve the collective character and the inalienability of capital as well as the democratic functioning of the company.
This form of organisation guarantees that Easter-eggs works exclusively in the interest of its employees and clients. We are not dependant on any external investors.
Since eight years the company could therefore follow its natural rythme of growth. Without any external capital, the company is under no obligation towards investors, founders or former colleagues.
An open company
Freedom is not the only value of libre that we aim to hold up. Transparency is another. Any employee is able to access all information concerning the company (salaries, contracts, liquidity, etc.). More than this: it is not the employee who has to search for information (in any case s/he has read access to all files), but the information that is provided to her/him in regular reports.
This internal transparency is a precondition for obtaining a real democratic functioning of the company. It requires the installation of specific tools (Intranet, mailing lists, voting technologies, etc.). This provides the company’s employees with a greater amount of freedom by allowing them to work from distance and to choose an own, personalised schedule.
A responsible company
Easter-eggs accepts its responsibility not only towards its employees, but also towards its customers and the free and open source software community. Our aim is to become transparent to the outside. Therefore we publish our commercial figures as well as other important documents such as the minutes of our annual assemblies or the results of elections.
The company tries to respond to new aspirations of citizens who start to perceive the limits of consumerism and search orientation among companies (and not only towards caritative associations). We aim to construct a civil company that anticipates and commits itself to ethical principals. Such considerations can - and did already - lead to the refusal of substantive contracts.
The business model we like to promote is that of a service company of free and open source software. It therefore must engage as far as it can in the dissemination of software and technical documentation under free licences. We grant our customers a ten percent discount for all development distributed under GPL license. We also made substantial donations to several non-for-profit associations in the field of free software and fare trade, such as APRIL, Ouvaton or Gitoyen.
We also organised cost free training for the Agence universitaire de la Francophonie in developing countries.
A more efficient company
It is the democratic and transparent principles that make Easter-eggs a profitable business. This combination of solidarity and efficiency constitutes the true force of the company. Its employees are aware of their complete control over the company and know that its success depends only on them. This motivation and personal engagement makes Easter-eggs very popular among its clients.
The company’s internal mode of functioning enables it to collaborate in a network of sister companies - libres entreprises - which are organised among the same principles. Within this network we share information, experience and knowledge. Keeping our independence, we are thereby able to act efficiently in the interest of our customers.
