Speaking about the outset:

I would assume that the OGF copyright rules were clear and known from the very beginning, when people first got involved, while personal opinions naturally were not. Perhaps it is reasonable to expect that people would respect and accept the rules commonly understood when the effort started.

A crazy thought?

I've been dealing with this issue behind the scenes the whole time and am only discussing it in public now because my attempts to convince the OGF to loosen up on arcane copyright restrictions have thus far failed. My only concern is the success of the specification and having invested countless hours of my time I'll break as many eggs as necessary to ensure that - I've even volunteered to assist with the registration of the requisite trademarks to prevent the confusion people are concerned about.

We've now exchanged well over 50 emails in this thread alone on a subject that is not getting us any closer to having the long overdue specification finished - that worries me greatly in terms of this group's ability to focus and deliver. It's also disconcerting that, after having (necessarily) given the group some breathing space over the last few months, there has not been a single substantive edit in my absence. While I appreciate that important work is being done, our number one priority remains outstanding.

Sam

On 29 Mar 2010, at 20:58, Sam Johnston wrote:

On Mon, Mar 29, 2010 at 7:14 PM, Christopher Smith <csmith@platform.com> wrote:

I would imagine that achieving consensus on various issues related to the OCCI spec should be one of the important things for the OCCI-WG to be doing right now, as the version 1.0 specification is now out of public comment and is in the final stages before becoming a GFD. This most definitely includes the issue of copyright/license of the final GFD, and just because Sam Johnston decides he’s done with the conversation does not indicate consensus in the group and/or the organization.

The spec out for public comment is far from complete so before we do anything else it needs to be finished - at least we'll then have something (long overdue) to talk about and market. My time is extremely and increasingly limited and I don't plan to waste any more of it discussing something that I was quite clear about from the outset - unjustifiably restrictive licensing will unnecessarily stifle adoption. Ironically trying to avoid forking by seeking consensus where there is apparently none to be had virtually guarantees a fork from the outset.

Sam