On 5/9/13 2:33 PM, Tim Bowden wrote:
On Thu, 2013-05-09 at 13:20 -0300, Adrian Custer wrote:
Hey Cameron, all,
...
* The letter is only rejection of the proposal without offering an
alternative way forwards.
I strongly suspect the proposed standard would have received a much
better reception from the broader OSGeo community (with the diverse
viewpoints it typically has) if the proposal was more that a "take it or
leave it" (partial?) description of what ESRI has done and is going to
do anyway.
Undoubtedly. This was as undiplomatic as they could have been.
If there was at least some willingness to engage with the
broader community on interoperability within the standard (and how do
you have interoperability if you aren't willing to budge from a
pre-defined position anyway?).
And there would have been more participation at the OGC. Lots of folk
were excited at the start but gave up when backwards compatibility was
set in stone.
Perhaps ESRI didn't realise their approach was going to come across with
an "up you" attitude (or maybe they did)? The impression I've got it
that many people feel ESRI is treating the OGC as a "rubber stamp" body
(which very much implies arrogant contempt) regardless of the merits of
the proposal.
Much more likely, ESRI is trying to "push through" its standard,
distinct from expecting the OGC to 'rubber stamp' it.
They knew from the get go they were going to face this opposition. The
only question is who is stronger.
This is a good example of the limits of governance at the OGC. Really, a
standard should not pass when there is concerted opposition to it. The
process is designed to suspend when there is opposition (2 no votes), in
an effort to build consensus. However, the ultimate decision is still a
50% + 1 vote; probably, it should be a super-majority of some kind.
Hopefully I've got it wrong and ESRI really just botched
their approach on this one (why do I feel this is naive wishful
thinking?).
FWIW, I don't believe having an alternate incompatible standard must of
itself be a deal breaker, if the proposed standard genuinely represents
a viable attempt at interoperability. After all, the wonderful thing
about standards is there are so many to choose from. ;) Lets just not
pretend it's about genuine interoperability unless that really is the
case.
I doubt anyone is that naive.
Regards,
Tim Bowden
cheers,
~adrian
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