[DRAFT 3]: Charter for the Open Source Committee

[Nils Lohner]

[- incorporated comments from Joey
 - slight reogranization for better continuity in preamble

This is the proposal to establish a commttee in SPI to handle all things 
related to teh OS mark.  This charter defines the powers and scope of the 
committee, and the procedures by which it operates will be defined by the 
committee itself and approved by the board of directors (see recent 
resolutions and bylaws for details if interested).  Please comment if you 
think that there are important things that need to be mentioned, otherwise, 
please feel free to comment to the committee when the proposal is approved 
and looking for input from teh community.

--Nils.]


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DRAFT Resolution
Charter for the Open Source Committee
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  A charter is hereby granted for the formation and operation of a committee
within the guidelines and objectives stated herein.  The committee shall
operate in the best interest of SPI and is responsible to the board of
directors and to the membership of the organization.


Preamble- Why open software development?
----------------------------------------

Open development principally encourages an exchange and exploration of new 
ideas.  By enabling and encouraging community development of the software 
faster technological advancement is possible.  The software also tends to 
become more reliable because more people can work on and fix problems in the 
code.  With this model, it becomes easier for standards to evolve as 
development is open, and agreed upon by the parties involved in the 
development.  Interoperability with other software is another benefit of 
open development as access to the code enables it to be more easily 
integrated with other programs.


The Open Source mark also provides advantages to businesses.  If a business 
releases code, a larger developerer base has access to it while the company 
still controls the development direction of the product.  This, in turn, can 
lead to them being the 'keeper of the standard' which automatically commands 
a certain user base since the community has accepted and helped develop the 
software according to its needs.

Not releasing software to the open community could potentially result in 
duplication of the softwares functionality in open software, thus producing 
an open competing product that can be adopted by the community at large.


The mark represents a standard way of developing software that allows 
everyone access to the source code and encourages open development.
It also sets a standard to measure licences against, and draws the 
line between what can be and can not be considered free software.  The 
definition of the mark ensures the licenses it is applied to comply with its 
standards and objectives.

The Open Source mark has become recognized by developers and users as a mark 
of quality of software development.  Since software released as Open Source 
implies high quality, proper security and ongoing development it has become 
important to ensure that its standards of development are upheld.  
Businesses wish to rely on this and also wish to use the mark on their 
products to convey compliance with these standards to their users.  Thus, 
these standards must be clearly defined and upheld as this provides a 
reliable way of determining the quality of the software produced by this 
development model.


SPI was founded to assist, support and defend the creation of this type of
software and is a recognized leader in the community. The Open Source
definition is rooted in the definition of free software used by the Debian
Project, an SPI member organization. The Open Source mark is a central 
element to the SPI mission because it is a recognized term both among
developers and businesses. SPI is committed to using its influence and
resources to help ensure that the Open Source name represents the tenets
and beliefs of the community from which it grew.


Purpose of the Committee
------------------------

The Open Source mark was established to recognize software that upholds the 
free and open exchange of source code in order to further the development of 
new ideas and concepts in software development.  It also represents the 
values of the free software community at large.  It is the responsibility of 
this committee to represent and further these common goals of the mark and 
free software community.

The committee is hereby granted the power to develop communications and 
marketing initiatives to raise industry and community awareness for open 
software.


Operating Guidelines
--------------------

  The committee shall operate openly in the view of the public whenever 
possible, but may, at the discretion of the commitee members, operate 
privately from time to time if this is deemed necessary.

Subject to the approval of the board, the committee shall make
reasonable procedures for transacting its business (including
delegating it to other members of the organization).  The committee
should set up appropriate and reasonable guidelines for its operation
and decisions as soon as possible.

The committee will have only limited powers until it has developed a
governing policy and selected a board to direct its actions. It will be
granted the following "Interim Powers" in order to facilitate the 
creation of the committee.


Interim Powers
--------------

The committee shall have the following powers while the membership and 
operating guidelines of the committee are being defined:

- The committee may solicit members of the free software community for 
  membership on the board.

- The committee may announce its presence to other individuals or 
  organizations to discuss potential policy options and committee
  membership.

- The committee may request information services from the projects 
  committee, to be granted at their discretion.

When the committee has finalized its operating policy and organization these 
will be submitted to the SPI board of directors for final approval.


Membership and Organization
---------------------------

This committee will be run by an interim committee that will fulfill the 
task of soliciting the formal committee. This working committee will use the 
"Interim Powers" outlined above for that task. Upon finalization of the 
formal committee and operating policy the interim committee will be 
dissolved and replaced with the formal committee.


-- 
Nils Lohner                         Software in the Public Interest, Inc.
E-Mail: lohner at spi-inc.org          PO Box 1326 
Board Of Directors <board at spi-inc.org> Boston, Ma. 02117 USA