Comments on OSI License Proliferation

October 24, 2005 § Leave a comment

As promised, I posted my summary of community
reaction to the OSI’s License Proliferation Policy:

1. Yes, License Proliferation is a
Problem.

2. Yes, the OSI should do something to discourage
it

3. No, these terms should NOT be part of the OSD
or the license-approval process

Click
[Read More] for the full text.

Well, as promised, here is my formal report,
based on one (1) public comment, and 3-4 private emails:

1. Yes, License Proliferation is a
Problem.

2. Yes, the OSI should do something to discourage
it

3. No, these terms should NOT be part of the OSD
or the license-approval process

To be
sure, this is far from a scientific sample, though the unanimity is still
somewhat surprising. I would like to suggest posting this summary on
license-discuss, to determine whether that (larger) community agrees with this
assessment.

However, what I personally
find disturbing is that same view*was* the clear consensus when the topic was
raised near the beginning of the year, but the OSI Board chose to completely
ignore #3 when defining the new
policy.

Eric, since you’re representing
the Board on this topic, could you please explain:

a. the motivation/justification for why the Board
felt it had the right and duty to override the express wishes of the (publicly
visible) community in this manner (#3, not #1 or #2).

b. why/how/if the Board expects the various
committees to enforce that policy, despite the fact that we have been given no
guidelines for doing so?

What’s most
worrisome at all is that many people whom I thought *would* care about this
topic have given up on the OSI altogether. Its not a good sign when those who
ought to know the most have the least
hope…

Which brings me
to;

c. Does the OSI think this disconnect is a real
problem requiring immediate, radical steps to address, or a minor procedural
item that can be deferred
indefinitely?

If anyone disagrees with
this characterization of the issues, please let me know; I am trying to
summarize my best understanding of the issues based on limited data, so more
feedback would be helpful.

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