BSD-like licenses and the OSI approval process

[Matthew Flaschen]

Chris Travers wrote:
> I would start with:
> http://www.opensource.org/history

No, you start there.

> Eric Raymond, Michael Tiemann and others started promoting the term in
> 1998 as an alternative to the term "Free Software."

It is very misleading (whether or not it is deliberate) for you to quote
the URL to a page and proceed with text that is not from that page
(especially when that text is in fact categorically false).

> Only in 2001 was the OSI founded, three years later.

No.

"OSI was jointly founded by Eric Raymond and Bruce Perens in late
February 1998, with Raymond as its first president and an initial
Board of Directors including Brian Behlendorf, Ian Murdock, Russ
Nelson, and Chip Salzenberg."

If you can cite evidence to the contrary, I'll accept that OSI is
blatantly lying about its own history.  However, I won't accept that it
was founded in 2001 because of anachronisms like April 1999 emails
(http://www.mail-archive.com/license-discuss@opensource.org/msg00001.html)
discussing license approvals (note: that is not the first substantive
email, only the first on that list).

> Again, the question is whether promoting a term glogally in a generic
> way for three years

No, the question is where you're getting your info.

Matt Flaschen