After a minor dust up over my post on Adobe’s Open Source Media Framework, a few responses helped clarify my angst and also provided a constructive approach to evaluating “openness”.
Specifically, Dion Almaer’s point system seems useful:
- 0 points: Say you are open
- 10 points: Choose an OSI license
- 20 points: Define the governance of the code, or the protocols / specs. If the spec gets a license that is great, but how does it get changed? Does Adobe hold all of the cards still? Can others participate? For code, who participates? Can anyone patch? Can you, and if so how do you become a committer? At the core: HOW ARE DECISIONS MADE
- 30 points: A reference implementation under an open source license
- 40 points: Where does the IP stand? Did you donate it to Apache or some other foundation? For an example, you can see Exhibit B: Patent Non-Assertion Covenant for the OpenSocial Foundation Proposal
And summarizing the source a lot of my frustration, he writes:
All we can really ask is to have the clear communication. Just be honest with us. Be clear with your intentions. The ramifications really do effect us too. I may get more involved in a project that isn’t just run by one company, where they can change things on a whim. If the purpose for using open source is more than the insurance of “if they do something I can fork it” then this stuff matters hugely. Some are in the game for insurance, but in general I think that people like to also get behind causes. They want to put energy into something they believe in. As soon as this happens your project has a part of us in it, and you need to respect that.
Perhaps using a framework and approach such as this will help me communicate more clearly why getting open right is so important to me.