Backlog assistance?

[Russell Nelson]

Alex Stewart writes:
 > Ok, I was under the impression that since people had noted there was a 
 > backlog, there was something somewhere that kept track of what was in 
 > it, or somebody was at least trying to have some understanding of the 
 > general status.

We need better tools.  Steve Mallett, our webmaster and also
progenitor of the Open Source Directory
(http://opensourcedirectory.org aka http://osdir.org) is checking some 
out for us.  Very likely we'll use a slashdot-like forum where we
approve the stories (licenses) and you guys attach the comments.  Then 
it will be very easy to see which licenses have been submitted and
what people think of them.

 > Umm, for the record, this thread was not a complaint, it was just an 
 > inquiry and offer of help.

Well, you could review these licenses:
	http://crynwr.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi?3:mss:3735:200108:ajlgmjcdbmmllniijbba
	http://crynwr.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi?3:mss:3733:200108:lmhpmlehbejjkloffohl
	http://crynwr.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi?3:msp:3728:ecdccfkopamdkjccmffn

 > I've looked around all the pages I can find on www.opensource.org, but I 
 > can find very little information about the organization itself (perhaps 
 > this is something I should be asking of osi at opensource.org, but I 
 > figured I'd try here first).  How does the OSI actually work regarding 
 > license approval?  Who can or can't approve a license, and do they rely 
 > on help from others to evaluate them or otherwise move the procedure 
 > along?  How does this list actually fit in the whole process?  (is there 
 > a process at all?)

http://opensource.org/docs/certification_mark.html

 > Basically, all I can find on the list is "submit it and we'll get back 
 > to you" (it isn't even terribly clear on who "we" is, though there's a 
 > side-note talking about when board meetings are, so does that imply that 
 > licenses are only approved by board vote?)

Yes.

 > Also, regarding the whole issue of whether more licenses are a good 
 > thing or a bad thing, it seems to me that this should be determined to 
 > some degree by what the OSI is actually here for.  What is the 
 > organization's mission statement, anyway?

Promote the freedom to run your enterprise the way you want to,
without vendor tie-in.

At least, that's how I'd say it.  That's not exactly what we said on
our 501(c)3 application.

 > If the goal is to encourage open-source licensing terms amongst the
 > software community, that's very different, and suggests that the
 > OSI should (try to) encourage (and thus certify) anything that
 > meets the open-source requirements.

That's certainly one interpretation of the mission statement I wrote
above.

-- 
-russ nelson <sig at russnelson.com>  http://russnelson.com
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