On Thu, 14 Feb 2008, Jim Grisanzio wrote: > Since history is often cited in these threads (as being right or wrong), > I'd just like to confirm this and expand it. The Cabal was indeed the > first group we talked to and the first group to come into the Pilot > Program and see the source. I got your names from Alan DuBoff and Eric > Boutilier -- both of who were doing community-building before > OpenSolaris. They told me you were the "Secret Six" so I expected six > people on the call. I think there were dozens. :) I was warned to get an > NDA before that initial conversation because some inside were concerned > about leaks. Well, we skipped the NDA and just talked and no one > violated the trust. We need to get back to just talking and honoring > each other's trust. I'm realistic about the problems we face, just as > many also are, but I can't help but be positive as well.
Well, to be more accurate on the secret-six, they were actually the group of community people that met with Solaris management on Feb. 11, 2002 over the big brainfart of Jan. 8, 2002. Those people were a part of the "pilot" as I recall, and there was a wide variety of people in the supporting communities, including usenet, yahoogroups, and similar that were invited to be a part of it. Some of those people were also representative of some of Sun's customer base, and as an example, Stefan Teleman was at Morgan Stanley at the time, and there were people that had been a part of Sun's "Platinum BETA" program. It was a rounded representation of the Solaris communities. There were several conference calls between all those folks, seems we used to meet weekly...and Karen Ritter and Claire Giordono were driving the OpenSolaris movement from within Solaris Engineering. The pilot was tied into that effort, as I recall. I think you might have been working with Claire also at the time Jim, come to think of it. None the less, even if Sun does reserve the right to use the name, who cares? Is everyone gonna pick up their toys and go home because Sun won't let you use the OpenSolaris name? I told them something like this would happen, and they wouldn't listen to me anyway. I was insistent with my voice in the community that viewing OpenSolaris as a product is a mistake. It is very misleading to have a product with the "Open" name in it. We could always call it OSNOS (OpenSolaris is NOT OpenSolaris. <groan>;-). If nothing else, I think it's a sign to Sun that things need to be reorganized in the community. Things are not working the way they are, that's pretty clear. So it's time to adapt and move on. -- Alan DuBoff - Solaris x86 IHV/OEM Group
