Bonum Certa Men Certa

Open Source Initiative (OSI): A Boat Without a Captain

Hong Phuc Dang announces victory on LinkedIn

Summary: A leaderless Open Source Initiative (OSI) isn't functioning anymore; it can barely even conduct a process by which to decide who its leaders will be

THE two founders of the OSI stepped aside last year. Simon Phipps is almost no longer involved either, right? The General Manager of the OSI (their sole full-time member of staff)? He left abruptly months ago. So who actually runs the OSI? Why is the majority of its budget (half or more than half of it) funneled to help Microsoft monopolise "Open Source"? Why would any individual people ("members" or "supporters") give them a portion of their salaries? It's not even clear who runs the OSI anymore...



"Why would any individual people ("members" or "supporters") give them a portion of their salaries? It's not even clear who runs the OSI anymore..."The OSI itself would probably not hesitate to admit a state of disarray. As we noted (briefly, in passing) last night, the OSI had suffered a compromised election, maybe even a security breach (hard to tell; no real transparency).

Hong Phuc Dang, shown above, thought she had won, but dang! Not so fast...

"OSI election vulnerability in process," one reader told us, led to the OSI "asking users to "vote again" March 23 - April 2 - after... Hong Phuc Dang announces victory on LinkedIn." (Microsoft)

"Apparently," the reader told us, "there was a "vulnerability" in the election process as announced by Deb Nicholson. Looks like the edit was made on the 19th... [i.e.] 3 days after... election closed."

"So what is this vague vulnerability," our reader asked aloud, "can we get details?"

Here's where to look. Our reader told us she had checked this and the original election was "running from March 5 through March 16."

"Hong Phuc Dang, shown above, thought she had won, but dang! Not so fast..."This can be confirmed in the official sources/site.

"On March 18, Hong Phuc Dang announced she won..." (image above)

"Today, I saw this: "Because of a vulnerability in our voting process, we are re-running our 2021 Board Election. We sincerely hope you will take a minute to vote again.

New election starts: March 23rd, 2021 at 9:00 a.m. PDT New election closes: April 2nd, 2021 at 11:00 a.m. PDT"

"Perens mentioned something about a system problem in one of his mailing list posts just before he jumped ship," our reader recalled. "I wonder if this is what he was referring to. At any rate, these pebbles leftover after the implosion and demise are not even holding on well. How do you botch up yearly voting? That takes some effort!"

"Either way, the OSI is in a bad and sad state. Its most major demise/collapse happened last year.""Also," she added, as a side note, "what's with the %20s in the first wiki link... that seems like something from back when people used spaces, right?"

She was referring to URLs with "OSI%20Board%20of%20Directors", "Board%20Member%20Elections" and "2021%20Individual%20"... or "%20Affiliate%20Elections" (maybe they don't know how to use the wiki software properly; maybe they even use Windows).

Either way, the OSI is in a bad and sad state. Its most major demise/collapse happened last year. Some of its leadership is nowadays openwashing professionals, not Free software (or Open Source) champions and some are using operating systems that are proprietary, which says where they stand on the real (core) issues.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 31, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, July 31, 2026
Gemini Links 01/08/2026: Retirement, Bike Trips, Quake Stuff, Usenet Reborn
Links for the day
Links 31/07/2026: Microsoft Now Says Slop is Bad (LinkedIn Cracks Down on It), LinkedIn Narrows Down Size (No Expansion)
Links for the day
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: From Alicante to Munich: Another Smooth Ride
Campinos is intent on transforming what was originally envisaged as a temporary public office into his own permanent personal feather-bed
Daniel Pocock and the Important Observation About Threats of Cult-Like Behaviours (No Rationality, No Reason, Just "Mob Rule")
It's a threat to Europe's sovereignty
The "PIP Parade" of IBM's Lousy Management, Which Said "Blockchain" Was the Future
In a healthy company such a CEO would be punished for utterly wrong visions and predictions. Not at IBM...
SLAPP Censorship - Part 135 Out of 200: Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) That Does Not Disclose Financial Activities Before August
It certainly looks like they keep losing the remaining women that still exist in the firm
Links 31/07/2026: "Climate Cover-Up Continues" and Pesticides "Cook the Planet"
Links for the day
Datacentre 'Boom' Sceptics Aren't Luddites, They Recognise a Threat to Human Survival (Not Limited to Climate Change)
Archaeologists very well know that no species will survive forever
Microsoft's Claims Are Based on a Big Lie
the bubble is coming to its hard limits
Don't Lose Sight of the Impact of "End of 10" (Vista 10)
GNU/Linux has taken off fast
Microsoft's Debt Continues to Steadily Increase, Not Counting Hundreds of Billions in Secret/Hidden Debt
The mass layoffs will carry on, maybe labelled LITE
IBM is Circling Down the Drain, the 'Growth' Comes From Beancounting Tricks and Salary Cuts
IBM was down 2.17% yesterday
Microsoft's "Headcount" Distracts From How Big a Cull It Had This Month
It also speaks of numbers "[a]s of June 30" though the "buyouts" were effective July 1 and since then well over 10,000 workers have vanished
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, July 30, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, July 30, 2026
Gemini Links 31/07/2026: Music, Journaling, and Longing
Links for the day
More Fake News From (and for) IBM, Nobody Ever Held Accountable for Fraud
Companies that turn a blind eye to their own corruption end up recruiting more corrupt people and sacking those who object to the corruption
Links 30/07/2026: Smol Document Server and More PalmOS-ing
Links for the day
Links 30/07/2026: Microsoft Refuting Its Own Slop Hype and "Amazon Is Gutting Its Hey Hi (AI) Division" (GAFAM Bubble)
Links for the day
Today The Register MS Published "AI" Spam and Fake Article by "Senior Technical Marketing Engineer"
unethical practices
Cult inquiry parliament leak fallout
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Techrights Will Always Protect Sources
Our #1 priority is sources
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: Legal Concerns and Suspicions of Irregularities
complaints submitted to OLAF
The Era of Silence
So stay silent, remain hidden
GAFAM and IBM Dying in Massive Debt, Hence the Mass Layoffs (Increasingly Silent Layoffs That the Media Fails to Mention)
the integrity of this economy is only as good as its leaders or those who govern the market
TheLayoff.com Deletes Comment That Called IBM's Previous CEO, Ginni Rometty, "Gin 'n Tonic"
It is hard to believe the comment was deleted for being a duplicate (in another thread)
The Mainstream Media Continues to Overlook or Intentionally Ignore Hundreds of Billions in Hidden/Secret Microsoft Debt
the issue is that Microsoft's crisis is a lot greater and broader than this
SLAPP Censorship - Part 134 Out of 200: What "Majority Rules" Tell Us About the Litigant
we press on with this series
Overshoot Day Sites That Contribute to the Problem
Some of these are not even accessible (at all) without JavaScript
Microsoft May Have Gotten Rid of 8% of Its Workforce This Month
It's hard to know what's really going on because there's no transparency due to NDAs
Links 30/07/2026: "Age of Irrationality", Google Losing Money, and "House of Ellison is on the Brink"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 30/07/2026: Homeworlds Notes and Manuscript Submitted
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 29, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, July 29, 2026