Vernon Schryver <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
> > From: "Eric S. Raymond" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
> > 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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