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

Many Topics to Cover
Drops in a big ocean
Gemini Links 04/10/2026: Peace in Outage, Pen Pals, and deGoogling
Links for the day
 
Secret Microsoft Layoffs and Maybe Another "Voluntary Exit Program at Microsoft in October"
there's a morale crisis at Microsoft
MIT Technology Review (MTR) Reinforces MIT's Role in Promoting Slop (Pyramid Scheme) in Exchange for Money
MIT is a poster boy (or child) of institutional corruption, perverts, and corporate takeover
Proving Wrong Those Slop Maximalists and Boosters, GAFAM Says Slop is a Nuisance and Bans/Hides the Slop Submissions
People who say slop in projects is inevitable or even desirable are usually cheaters with self-guilt
Links 04/10/2026: “AI Torture Chamber” and "Aggressive Push to Integrate Hey Hi (AI) Slop Into Schools Is Turning Into a Disaster"
Links for the day
How Microsoft Hides Massive Layoffs From the Media (as Explained by Microsofters)
"rewards" are not exactly rewarding
Brigading Against Women - Part XVII - The Appeal
more to be known towards the end of the year
Links 04/10/2026: Fires Rage in Borneo and Mass Layoffs at Disney
Links for the day
Garrett's Litigation Partner is Unemployed Again
losing one's job
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, October 03, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, October 03, 2026
Teaser/Taster
Tomorrow morning we'll have an important story regarding "GGG"
Gemini Links 03/10/2026: Book Swaps and Book Crossing, Hidden Figures (2016), Apps and Tools for Research and Writing
Links for the day
Michael Catanzaro Seems to be Missing the Point
Calling people you disagree with "Ostriches" is lazy name-calling
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Turns 41
People who want humans and communities to maintain their software chains (and by extension their digital life) will back GNU
Links 03/10/2026: "Banned Books Week 2026" and "American Journalist Imprisoned as a Spy in Russia"
Links for the day
In Case Anybody Still Believes Microsoft Lunduke Cares About GNU/Linux...
GNU/Linux users aren't bots
Gemini Links 03/10/2026: Speculative Realism, Paper2SlopBot, Joplin, and Offline Experiment
Links for the day
Union Syndicale Fédérale (USF) Tries to Compel the European Patent Office (EPO) to Actually Function Properly
We'll be covering the EPO a lot more soon
Brigading Against Women - Part XVI - When Your Own Colleagues Complain About You Maybe the Problem is You
"if 2 people tell you that you're drunk, you go to sleep"
Links 03/10/2026: Slop-Generated War Songs and "Privatisation Has Failed"
Links for the day
Proprietary Software Giant Microsoft is Quietly Laying Off Lots of Employees, Insider Explains How It's Done
about Microsoft exits
United States: More Than One in Ten Using GNU/Linux on Laptop/Desktop
Clownflare Radar seems to show a similar trend
Brigading Against Women - Part XV - Trying to Put Women in Prisons
We'll soon get to the 'meat' or the 'beef', showing how "Gas The Jews" Lozza helped Garrett a few days after we had sued him in September 2024
A Leap in GNU/Linux Usage, Japan's Share in Particular
One thing that merits attention right now is Japan. It looks like it's adopting GNU/Linux instead of GAFAM.
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, October 02, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, October 02, 2026
Gemini Links 02/10/2026: Hitchhiking, Dream, Journey of Thoughts, and ROOPHLOCH
Links for the day
IBM in Such a Bad Shape That Silent Layoffs Have Come to India
Make it hard for IBM to hide what's happening
The Mass Layoffs at Red Hat (Secret Layoffs) Not Limited to This Week or to October 1st
Red Hat can shed off 10% of its staff without anyone in the media uttering a word
The Latest "PARTNER CONTENT" at The Register MS is by Chief Marketing Officer at VergeIO
Maybe The Register MS can just run ads, not articles, and hope nobody will notice
Links 02/10/2026: Turkey's Censorship of Journalists Grows, "Hong Kong Journalist Arrested After Covering Gathering Linked to 2019 Protests"
Links for the day
IBM's Red Hat is a Slave of Microsoft, It Does Not Compete With Microsoft
As released and shown earlier today in "Red Hat Partner Connect"/redhat.com
Red Hat: Stop Saying Master, It's Racist. Today's Red Hat: "Master Your Skills" and Adopt Slop Plagiarism
IBM is shredding Red Hat to pieces while it keeps humiliating the collective intelligence of communities
Reform UK, Nigel Farage's party/company, admits missing winding-up petition
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: A Costa-Benefit Analysis: Has the Asset Become a Liability?
All other things being equal, one could expect the Portuguese political establishment to support Campinos in his reappointment bid. But what if all other things are no longer equal because the former "asset" has in the meantime become a "liability"?
Brigading Against Women - Part XIV - Mastery of Distraction
The finger-pointing actions themselves prove the saying that even an accusation is likely a confession
Links 02/10/2026: "McDonald's Caught Cheating Consumers for Profit" and "It's Not Illegal If You Buy New Laws"
Links for the day
EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part XVII - A Vote for Campinos This Month (Reappointment) Would be an Endorsement of Cocaine
The harder they try to silence critics, the worse it'll get
The Cyber Show on "Career Scientists" (Resellers of Establishment Brands Like GAFAM)
"The "career scientist" - with PhD and research office by their mid-twenties - follows well oiled tracks and institutional signposts, steering away from controversial or "difficult" subjects."
Reporting Court Matters While Preserving Dignity of Staff
There's a high and growing probability we'll take our appeal to the Court of Appeal next year
Broligarchs Speech-Policing, Faux 'Community' or 'Hub' in 'User-Driven' Clothing
Until a broligarch decides to "flag" inconvenient stories
Gemini Links 02/10/2026: Haiku, Microsoft EEE ('Linux' as a Container in Windows), and ROOPHLOCH 2026 Roundup
Links for the day
Microsoft Promised Them Bonuses, Instead They May Get Laid Off
Laid off or paid off?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 01, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, October 01, 2026
Lots of People Left Red Hat This Week, No Announcement Made of Layoffs
Companies just find ways and excuses not to announce their layoffs