Vernon Schryver <vjs(_at_)calcite(_dot_)rhyolite(_dot_)com>:
From: "Eric S. Raymond" <esr(_at_)thyrsus(_dot_)com>
Your two people to go to on this would be RMS (representing the FSF)
or me (representing the OSI); between us I believe we can speak for
over 95% of the community.
I hate it when elected politicans presume to speak for me. I will not
sit quietly and let self-appointed individuals try the same. *DO NOT*
tell me to my face that you are negotiating on my behalf or even just
for 95% of the other people who write or have written software that
might be called "open" by virtue of being freely redistributable and
in use by lots of people until you can can point to the results of a
real plebiscite. Even then, you won't be speaking for me until I
personally and explicitly say so.
There's been no plebiscite, of course. However, web content analyses
and surveys of the licenses used at sites like SourceForge and ibiblio
paint a pretty consistent picture of who developers consider the authorities
on licensing and IPR best practice. Those authorities are FSF and OSI.
While I respect your desire that I not represent you (or claim to),
the reality is that people outside our community are generally going
to behave as if I do. OSI as an organization, and I as an individual,
had to build that reputation in order to represent *anybody*
effectively, let alone the large number of developers that want us to.
And this was a job that needed doing, so I won't apologize
for taking it on.
If you and Mr. Stallman want to speak for your respective organizations,
then peachy. If you want to speak based on what you consider your own
great experience and deep thoughts on the issues, then that's also
good. If you want to pretend that you speak for me out of my earshot,
then I'll do my best to not hear. Just don't stand in front of me
telling me that you have my best interests at heart and that I must
trust you.
I do in fact believe I have your best interests at heart; this is a
safe thing for me to believe, because I have no actual power over you.
I do not require that you trust me, though that would be nice. Many
people do trust me and don't seem to have been harmed by it.
You're a typical member of the 5%, in that what bothers you is not
policies or the effects of what we do, but our implied claim to represent
you. I do not presume to criticize your position, but neither am I going
to abandon my duty to hackers who *do* want OSI to represent them on
any single refusenik's say-so.
--
<a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/";>Eric S. Raymond</a>
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