[PROPOSAL] Open Source certification

[Anthony Towns]

On Sat, Apr 03, 1999 at 06:08:54AM -0000, bruce at perens.com wrote:
> From: Anthony Towns <aj at azure.humbug.org.au>
> > Further, OSI is making efforts in the right direction. They are discussing
> > how the APSL should be improved with Apple
> Say what? All public disclosure from OSI indicates that they are dragging
> their feet about any change in the APSL, nor has anyone at Apple indicated
> that OSI is working on this.

]    [...] Negotiating with Apple about APSL 1.1 changes
]    (something I'm still involved in doing) is [...]

and

]    and made negotiations with Apple to fix the APSL's problems much more
]    difficult

        -- http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/writings/understand-my-job-please.html

Eric made some other comments in personal mail which lead me to believe
he's taking at least some of the comments seriously, which is why I'm
willing to make such a bald statement without very much to back it
up. You are, of course, free to ignore it for just that reason.

And no, there hasn't been any public disclosure from OSI about this,
just an aside in a personal essay from one of its board members. And no,
the Apple FAQ hasn't been changed either, and still lists the APSL as
open source, no ifs, buts or maybes. And no, not all of the concerns are
being addressed. And no, there still isn't any easy way of contacting all
the board, and all the "send mail to us" links point to Eric's personal
address. And no, there isn't any public archive of board discussions
or decisions.

I do realise all this. OSI has heaps of faults. But they're all peripheral
to what they add to the community -- someone for suits to talk to and
get good vibes. SPI's faults -- that everyone's too busy writing code
or having lives to do the lecture circuit are directly relevant to not
being able to do that job.

Let me put it another way: if we can't even convince OSI to open up
itself up, how can we claim we'll do a better job of convincing proprietry
software companies to open up theirs?

Let me put it yet another way: if we want to speak for the whole open
source community, how can we claim we'll do even a remotely good job of
that if our first step is to divisively demand control?

Cheers,
aj

-- 
Anthony Towns <aj at humbug.org.au> <http://azure.humbug.org.au/~aj/>
I don't speak for anyone save myself. PGP encrypted mail preferred.

``Like the ski resort of girls looking for husbands and husbands looking
  for girls, the situation is not as symmetrical as it might seem.''
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