OSI Certification Process

[John Cowan]

Alex Nicolaou wrote:

> In closing I should say that I think it is a mistake to withhold OSI
> certification simply on the basis of a licence's merits, and not on some
> more rational basis such as whether it meets the OSD or not.

I agree.  Failing to certify a license as Open Source when it meets the OSD
would be both unprincipled and inexpedient.  But *requesting* someone to
withdraw a license on grounds of redundancy is neither.

If Mr. Nicolaou is going to license software under his SOS license with or
without certification, as appears to be the case, then
withholding certification would be perverse, and I firmly believe that OSI
will not do it.

> Then you get to allow new entrants to the
> field while still making it clear which licenses are the preferred ones.
> By having objective criteria for moving a license from OSI to OSI Gold
> status you make it clear that it is an impartial distinction, created by
> the overall success of the license amongst developers.

De facto this is already being done at the Web site, and I think this
suggestion has merit.

-- 

John Cowan	http://www.reutershealth.com		jcowan at reutershealth.com
Schlingt dreifach einen Kreis vom dies! / Schliess eurer Aug vor heiliger Schau
Den er genoss vom Honig-Tau / Und trank die Milch vom Paradies.
		-- Coleridge (tr. Politzer)