Ian Lance Taylor writes: > It depends on the venue. If it's a political one, then yes, you're > right, because you'll be forced to accept the majority opinion. Given > the presence of two anarchists on the OSI board, I SERIOUSLY doubt > that OSI would ever pursue a political final solution. > > If it's a free market (and I hope you agree that everyone is free to > seek or avoid Open Source certification for their license), then you > can trust that someone will come up with an alternative, if enough > people share your opinion of OSI. > > I'm not comfortable with these assumptions. > > If I think that some sort of free software branding scheme is > desirable, then it seems natural to prefer that there be only one. If > there are several, then people have to examine each one to understand > it, and that misses the whole point of having a branding scheme in the > first place. We might as well go back to just looking at the > licenses. > > Therefore, since there already is a branding scheme, my first choice > would be to influence that one. Only if that fails would I consider > starting another one, and I would be aware that starting another one > would be a heavy cost to the community as a whole. The cost of entry is much lower than you're suggesting. > Unfortunately, since as far as I am aware the OSI does not act in a > particularly public fashion, the OSI is hard to influence. For > example, judging by the web site, there is no mailing list I can join > to see what the OSI is considering next. Hmmm.... You're quite right. We're having a board meeting tomorrow. I'll see if I can slip your concern onto the agenda. > So, the OSI appears to be a relatively small group of self appointed > people, who deliberate in secret, and have no documented way to > replace members. Yet they claim to act for good of the community, and > Eric Raymond, the president, refers to himself as ``public advocate > for the hacker tribe.'' And, in fact, people outside the community > appear to accept these claims to one degree or another. Advocate, yes. Leader, no. I don't see anybody following him; who could possibly mistake him for a leader? -- -russ nelson <rn-sig@crynwr.com> http://crynwr.com/~nelson Crynwr supports Open Source(tm) Software| PGPok | There is good evidence 521 Pleasant Valley Rd. | +1 315 268 1925 voice | that freedom is the Potsdam, NY 13676-3213 | +1 315 268 9201 FAX | cause of world peace.