Bonum Certa Men Certa

A Microsoft-Sponsored Open Source Initiative (OSI)

Mr. Phipps assured me this would not happen after OSI had taken Microsoft's money (despite Microsoft's ongoing attacks on software freedom)

OSI at Microsoft



Summary: Today's Open Source Initiative does not seem so dedicated to software freedom or even to Open Source; money from proprietary software companies can't have helped and the above photo op says it all (OSI Board at Microsoft)

Bruce Perens (Open Source Definition) on Thursday January 2nd at 05:43:15 UTC 2020, quitting his own creation 22 years later:



Josh,



Well, it seems to me that the organization is rather enthusiastically headed toward accepting a license that isn't freedom respecting. Fine, do it without me, please. I asked Patrick to cancel my membership, and I would have unsubscribed from OSI lists, including this one, if your server was working. I own an interest in 10 Open Source companies and manage a 50 Million dollar portfolio investing in them. That will keep me involved enough.

Thanks

Bruce

On Wed, Jan 1, 2020 at 9:18 PM Joshua R. Simmons < josh.simmons at opensource.org> wrote:

> That's out of line, Bruce. I'm not sure where this FUD is coming from, but > it's inappropriate. > > Regardless of my own views, I quite value Bradley's contribution, as well > as Van's engaging the process and responding to criticism in good faith. > > I've been following the discussions closely and, frankly, it seems a > decent model of critical civil discourse. Let's keep it that way. > > (Apologies for the re-send, had to square away some issues with my mailing > list membership.) > > Josh Simmons, VP at Open Source Initiative (Tax ID 91-2037395) > @joshsimmons <http://twitter.com/joshsimmons> | josh at opensource.org | 1-707-600-6098 > | bluesomewhere on Freenode > ad astra per aspera 🚀 > > > On Wed, Jan 1, 2020 at 8:53 PM Bruce Perens via License-review < > license-review at lists.opensource.org> wrote: > >> Don't waste your time, Bradley. They were told not to listen to you, >> either. >> >> On Wed, Jan 1, 2020 at 6:29 PM Bradley M. Kuhn <bkuhn at ebb.org> wrote: >> >>> I can't find an example when OSI approved a novel copyleft license that >>> hadn't yet been used in practice and therefore had no track record of use >>> for any FOSS project. It was once somewhat common for OSI to approve >>> licenses that were used by only one entity, and most of those licenses >>> were >>> never used beyond the one project, and even most of those entities have >>> deprecated those by now. (OSI also made a decision to cease considering >>> such single-use licenses.) Rapid acceptance of a novel licenses, so far >>> unused in practice, causes confusion in the FOSS community. >>> >>> Folks have shouted down Bruce as he wonders how Van's license will be >>> used >>> in practice. I think Bruce has made a useful point on this thread: as a >>> general matter, it's relevant that we consider how the license impacts >>> users' *and* software publishers' software freedoms in *practice*, not >>> merely *in theory*. >>> >>> In that regard, I'd like to know if the project that plans to use this >>> license will be inbound=outbound (i.e., is the entity that's promulgating >>> this new license willing to bound themselves by the license terms)? Van, >>> could you tell us, on behalf of your client (who appears to be the only >>> potential licensor interested in this license), what their contribution >>> plans are regarding this license? Are they planning to accept >>> contributions >>> under this license, and thus be bound by it for their FOSS projects? >>> If not, why not? >>> -- >>> >>> Bradley M. Kuhn - he/him >>> >>> Pls. support the charity where I work, Software Freedom Conservancy: >>> https://sfconservancy.org/supporter/ >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> License-review mailing list >>> License-review at lists.opensource.org >>> >>> http://lists.opensource.org/mailman/listinfo/license-review_lists.opensource.org >>> >> >> >> -- >> Bruce Perens - Partner, OSS.Capital. >> _______________________________________________ >> License-review mailing list >> License-review at lists.opensource.org >> >> http://lists.opensource.org/mailman/listinfo/license-review_lists.opensource.org >> > -- Bruce Perens - Partner, OSS.Capital.


Press coverage (may misrepresent the above, with context): Bruce Perens quits Open Source Initiative amid row over new data-sharing crypto license: 'We've gone the wrong way with licensing'

In Russian: Брюс Перенс покинул организацию OSI из-за разногласий, касающихся лицензии CAL

Recent Techrights' Posts

Links 29/12/2025: Putin Critic Sergei Udaltsov Imprisoned, Cloudflare’s Outages Discussed
Links for the day
LLMs Are Inherently Parasitic, We Need to Treat Them Accordingly
a maintenance burden for those who possess actual intelligence
Links 29/12/2025: Bottled Water Considered Harmful, Cheetos Promoting Nazis in Europe
Links for the day
EPO People Power - Part XVIII - European Patent Office "Paints Itself as Progressive While Literally Being Represented by Cokeheads"
To what length/s will German authorities and media (not just in Germany) go to protect the EPO's "precious image"?
What IBM Will Do to Red Hat in the Coming Year or Years
This won't end up well for GNU/Linux as a whole
Not Turning in His Grave: When People Die, Their Corporate Destruction Becomes a "Turnaround"
All he did was mass layoffs - a tradition that has not ended since then
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, December 28, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, December 28, 2025
Louis Gerstner Has Died, His Legacy of Mass Layoffs at IBM Hasn't
Hagiographies will follow. They will say he "saved" IBM.
Links 29/12/2025: The Sunday Routine, Limits of Memory, and Gemini Vocabulary
Links for the day
Doxing is Illegal in the UK (Even If You're Based in the US)
Somebody has just added my identity (name, mugshot etc.) to a "hitlist" site of a political nature, pandering to violent people
Misunderstood Weapons of Censorship
It's cruel world out there. One needs to be aware of these shady activities, including "censorship-as-a-service".
Google Confidently Wrong, Nowadays Defaming People Too
I can relate as people did this to me and to my wife
What Happens When Americans Are Out of Office (Away From Work) for a Week? Vista 11 "Share" Falls to Just 10%.
How's that for slow adoption?
2026 Will Have EPO Focus, People Will See What the EPO is Trying to Hide
We certainly hope people will be held accountable
EPO People Power - Part XVII - Drugged, Stoned, and Drunk at the Office During Working Hours (Campinos Friend and Propaganda Chief Has Long Done This)
It's a total disgrace that press all over Europe is still trying to cover this up!
Gemini Links 28/12/2025: Health Ordeals and Discontinued Pedals
Links for the day
Slop About "Linux" Came Only From One Slopfarm This Weekend
Another day has passed with no LLM slop found in our RSS feeds
Links 28/12/2025: 'Digital Detox' and Slop "Backlash Grew Massively in 2025"
Links for the day
Links 28/12/2025: "Mass Quitting Apple" and "Generative AI Industry is Fraudulent, Immoral and Dangerous"
Links for the day
Links 28/12/2025: Fascination, Holidays, and Mormonism
Links for the day
Microsoft's Weapon Against the Reality of XBox (the Console) Dying Seems to be LLM Slop
XBox is dead/dying
Raffles for the Immaterial: Unauthorised Bingo for Red Hat "Vouchers"
This is IBM and some slop images
Andy Farnell on Standing Up Against Technological Oppression
some portions from it
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, December 27, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, December 27, 2025
Once Again, GAFAM Deletes All Your Data, Only Corrects This After Millions of People Lead an Uproar Online ("Richard Stallman Warned Us About This")
No lessons learned, eh?
Linus Torvalds Blasts Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) for Attempting to 'Protect' Linux
Like it 'protects' women
New Record for GNU/Linux in Australia (at Microsoft's Expense)
Windows is at an all-time low, GNU/Linux... all-time high
Fighting Over Whose Pockets Are Deeper (or Who Borrows More Money)
When processes favour those who are more wealthy (or more willing to go into infinite debt or steal money of other people) those processes match the attributes of lawfare rather than law
You Know Your Critics Are Jealous and Have Inferiority Complex When...
One day we'll write about all this in great depth
Starting a Book With a Flawed Premise or Weak Hypothesis
To me, Schneier is a sort of "RMS of sec"
Microsoft's Mass Layoffs (30,000+ in 2025) Not About "AI", Just Business Failure
"AI" is replacing... the old excuses for mass layoffs
"But Corruption is Everywhere"
"We'll always have Polio..."
EPO People Power - Part XVI - Berenguer Does Not Speak German, So What Did He Tell German Police That Busted Him?
based in Germany and does not speak the language
Challenges for EPO Insiders to Try to Tackle in 2026
Nothing will get solved as long as the circus that runs this show tries to keep the circus going
Days Without Slop About "Linux"
It's time to move on
Links 27/12/2025: Canada Post Strike Called Off, Debate About Europeans "Working Over Christmas"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/12/2025: Household Appliances and Flight Fright
Links for the day
Links 27/12/2025: US Cracking Down on Whistleblowers, Expanding Bombardment Campaigns Worldwide
Links for the day
Resuming EPO Coverage Today, Can António Campinos 'Survive' Cocainegate?
We said we'd continue in the weekend
Links 27/12/2025: More Attacks on Media (Meduza Co-founder Sentenced to Prison in Absentia), "What Owning Music Means To Me"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/12/2025: geminiprotocol.net Downtime and Capsular Gemlog Manager
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, December 26, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, December 26, 2025