[discuss] OSDL and the Free Standards Group have merged to form The Linux Foundation

[G. Roderick Singleton]

Please excuse the top post as I am in the middle of cleaning the CLUE
database.  

I think you have raised valid points. Thanks.

On Tue, 2007-01-23 at 13:43 -0500, Russell McOrmond wrote:
> G. Roderick Singleton wrote:
> > Perhaps a better question would be, "Why do you think it is a bad idea?" 
> 
>    Very good way to ask the question.  I don't know if I think it is a 
> "bad" idea, but I do have some reservations.
> 
>    I was very happy with the name change last year made by CLUE (CLUE is 
> no longer an acronym), and the addition of BSD Unix folks to the 
> advisory council for CLUE.  I'm personally part of the Free Software 
> community (My "leader", if I have one, is Eben Moglen* ;-), and thus was 
> quite comfortable becoming very involved in an "Association for Open 
> Source" (Where I add in the "Free/Libre and" part often).
> 
> * The speech that Eben Moglen gave at the Plone conference titled 
> "Software and Community in the Early 21st Century" explains why I'm 
> involved in FLOSS (and why I'm a software/copyright/etc policy person at 
> all) better than anything else I've ever heard or read. 
> http://www.digital-copyright.ca/node/2813
> 
> 
> 
>    OSDL and FSG moved from a mention of "Open Source" and "Standards" to 
> now having "Linux" in their name.  This puts it optically as something 
> that Linus Torvalds might be the leader of, or at least an important 
> trend setter.
> 
>    I don't trust (or agree with) Linus Torvalds any more than Linus 
> trusts Richard Stallman.
> 
>    I worry that having CLUE be a member of "The Linux Foundation" might 
> further suggest CLUE is a Linux association rather than a FLOSS 
> association, making it harder for people like me (who is contemplating a 
> move away from the Linux kernel) or the BSD folks to feel welcome.
> 
>    Of course, there may be absolutely nothing in the name -- and the 
> name choice might be for purely marketing reasons (The media thinks it 
> knows what "Linux" is even if it always gets "Open Source" and 
> "Standards" wrong).
> 
> 
> P.S.  I was very specific with Grant Buckler, the author of the 
> ITBusiness.ca article today that quoted me, that I was speaking as 
> myself and not as CLUE policy coordinator.  He interviewed me about the 
>   GPLv3 and the division in the community that some people, most visibly 
> leaders in the Linux kernel community like Linus himself, are causing.
> 
> http://www.digital-copyright.ca/node/2926
> 
>    I realize this is an issue where my views aren't necessarily shared 
> by others involved with CLUE.
> 
> > In support of what you wrote, I think it might help that we have a
> > voice, however small, in ensuring that any US activities are _NOT_
> > extraterritorial. 
> 
>    Interesting flip in the language.  I believe you are thinking of US 
> government (Specifically, USPTO and USTR) activities, rather than 
> activities of supportive groups like OSDL/FSG.
> 
-- 
G. Roderick Singleton <gerry at pathtech.org>
PATH tech

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