[beyond-licensing] quick review of scope, resources, and goals

Mike Linksvayer ml at gondwanaland.com
Thu Apr 21 22:43:23 UTC 2016


On April 13, 2016 11:57:58 AM PDT, Karl Fogel <kfogel at red-bean.com> wrote:
>Yes, it's true that for certain kinds of open source projects, of a
>certain scale and demographic, formal governance processes and
>transparency are "better" for some reasonable definition of "better"
>(presumably some combination of technical quality, project efficiency,
>and the happiness of the participants).  But not every project is like
>that, and it's an exceedingly complex question; I'm not sure OSI has
>any call to ever dive into that kind of thing.  Many very successful
>projects are not run that way, and who's to say they're making a
>mistake?

Indeed.

But there is one thing in addition to material availability (source) and freedom to operate (license) that perhaps should be universalized -- if a project doesn't have it, it's unambiguously making a mistake, however otherwise successful it is -- intolerance of abusive behavior.

>Instead, what Beyond Licensing means IMHO is "things the OSI and allies
>can do, that don't involve software copyright licenses, to help open
>source as a cause".

I don't think "beyond" needs to mean "doesn't involve".

I take "licensing" to stand for open source subject to the discretion of developers and their employers. I'd like to see OSI and allies help make open source subject to the discretion of public policy. One of the ways this is achieved for the foreseeable future is through mandating use of open source licenses. I'd love to see a shared roadmap and campaign for making open source a fundamental part of funding, procurement, and regulatory policy. Especially the last. We can't just keep saying no to policy that harms open source (e.g., anti-circumvention mentioned elsewhere in thread), we have to convince activists, policymakers, and regulators that open source is a useful addition to their regulatory tool belts.

But I'm just taking the words to fit my preconceptions.

Mike




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