Thanks to openworldforum.tv for the opportunity to tell people how to join!

That URL again:  opensource.org/join

That link I mentioned:  opensource.org/join

You can finally join OSI. I’ve had a busy day at OSCON in Portland, OR today (apologies if I’ve been missing your messages and/or deadlines…) where interest around the conference has been high. Here are some details.

The Open Source Initiative now has two membership categories; Affiliate Membership for not-for-profit organisations, and Individual Membership for open source supporters to personally drive change. The Board expects to create a third category for corporate membership later this year. Together, these membership categories will eventually drive all the activity at OSI, including its governance.

The goal of all this is to turn OSI into a member-driven non-profit that’s a neutral venue for the things that are inappropriate or impossible anywhere else. Ideas already suggested include

• a global resource network for open source user groups of all kinds
• a repository of research on open source (like the late lamented opensource.mit.edu)
• a social fund to help developers attend open source conferences

Of course, all these will only happen if there are people to make them happen – the OSI Board is too small for this. The new Individual Membership category is the powerhouse of the change, connecting the resources from the Affiliates and future corporate members and staffing working groups to achieve concrete, time-bounded deliverables that benefit open source. As the membership grows – in all categories – so will the resources available, both practical and reputational. In future the OSI Board will facilitate rather than staff all OSI’s work.

There are so many things our global community could do together if even a small percentage of us were to unite in this way. The specifics of our different projects, the characteristics of our licenses and our differing approaches to software freedom vary, but that doesn’t mean we need to allow those differences to block our unity. As OSI’s president you’de expect me to say this, but all the same:  please join!

As OSI’s president you’de expect me to say this, but all the same:  please join!

The move to membership at the Open Source Initiative continues. OSI just published a list of the last five “invited” non-profit Affiliate Members, and opened for general applications. As well as open source development communities, I would also love to see open source user groups all over the world apply to join OSI, as the French user association AFUL has done.

Among the other (very welcome!) Affiliates joining OSI, I’m also pleased to see a non-profit open source user organisation; the Wikimedia Foundation. This is another step towards OSI fulfilling the core of the vision with which it was initially founded back in 1998; “to educate about and advocate for the benefits of open source and to build bridges among different constituencies in the open source community.” (my emphasis).  It’s time.

Having Debian join OSI is especially sweet. When OSI formed at the end of the 90s, the basis for the definition of what constituted an open source license – the Open Source Definition – was derived directly from the earlier Debian Free Software Guidelines by a former Debian Project Lead, Bruce Perens. The DFSG in turn was part of the Debian Social Contract, a pragmatic and specific response to the ethical imperative of free software.

By opening up as it has, OSI offers a place to gather the clans of open source. OSI is not the only, the first or the best exemplar of open source – it would be rash for any organisation to make such claims. But its decade-long stewardship role, along with the vision of the new Board to draw in members from ever country and every aspect of open source and software freedom, makes it a fine gathering point which could have tremendous value to us all in the future.

I will be at the FLOSSUK Spring 2012 conference on Wednesday and Thursday, and speaking on Thursday morning about the changes we’re working through at OSI. If you’ll be there in Edinburgh, come and find me at the Open Rights Group table where I’ll also help you sign up for ORG membership! Alternatively, come to London next Saturday for ORGCon and I’ll see you there instead.

Why exactly did OSI decide to reorganize its governance from a board-only organization into a member-based structure? How will this new governance allow OSI to address its mission better?

As you’ll read at its website, “the Open Source Initiative is a non-profit corporation with global scope formed in 1998 to educate about and advocate for the benefits of open source and to build bridges among different constituencies in the open source community.” Despite the breadth of that mission, it has focussed almost exclusively on approval of licenses as compliant with the Open Source Definition. The Board felt that it was time to return to that initial mission and work on the broader goals too.

We hope that as a consequence of the switch to a member organisation, OSI will be able to educate, advocate and build bridges as well as continuing as a “standards body for licenses”. Our success opposing CPTN’s attempt to buy Novell’s patents (among other things we did in 2011) has given a hint of the force that could be unleashed for software freedom by having a neutral and uniting venue for education and advocacy.

Come along at noon on February 4th for more.

Read about it on ComputerWorldUK or the OSI Board Blog.

Continue reading over at ComputerWorldUK…

But in 2010, the industry has changed. It’s due in no small part to the effects of software freedom on technology and innovation, with the pragmatic liberties it guarantees seeding today’s key trends. It’s also in part due to the attempted corruption of open standards and the policies that rely on them, which has allowed proprietary software an undeserved ascendancy. So while new businesses are able to be formed with philosophical and ethical principles embedded in their DNA, existing ones still can’t “embrace software freedom” since that’s a capability only of intelligent individuals.

So it’s time for a revamp. Read more on my ComputerWorldUK blog or at OSI

Read more…

That’s an auspicious date . One or two friends have asked why on earth anyone would want to commit time to OSI. They point out that the OSI has had a much lower profile over the past few years as the more notable founding members have moved on. It has been criticised for allowing too many licenses to be approved – including some of questionable merit.  It’s easy to find people ready to criticise – some apparently just for the sake of it – and hard to find much more than grudging respect.

But the OSI still plays a very important and relevant role in the world of software freedom. Some points:

• Many government and business policies around the world point to OSI when defining what is acceptable as “open source”. The OSD remains the “gold standard”.
• There is still a substantial authority connected with the organisation when the time comes for an abuser to be challenged to back down from describing their freedom-impaired activity as “open source”.
• License approvals have become a much more onerous process, with the emphasis on avoiding creation of new licenses, updating old or flawed ones and encouraging the retirement of redundant ones.

There’s no question that the “open source” concept and brand remain powerful forces for positive change. That green logo carries weight.

I think it’s time for change, first at OSI and then more widely. OSI needs to move from a “supreme court” model to a member-based model. I’d like to see activities promoting software freedom around the world both encouraged and represented by OSI – education, policy development and perhaps organisational support for open source projects. And if there was any way at all to be a more uniting force or have a scorecard – well, I can dream!

My goal as a Director will be to facilitate that change, a change that is already well under way following recent face-to-face discussions and the great work that Andrew Oliver and Danese Cooper have already put in. Expect to hear more on this subject as the year progresses.