Vernon Schryver <vjs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>: > > From: "Eric S. Raymond" <esr@xxxxxxxxxxx> > > > 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> _______________________________________________ Ietf@xxxxxxxx https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf