On Wed, Mar 24, 2010, Garrett D'Amore wrote to PSARC-ext:
> Ultimately, you won't be able to dictate terms to Oracle about how it should
> manage its code or its IP, or even its trademarks. ?At present the ON
> "upstream" is Oracle's code; the gatekeepers serve as Oracle employees
> acting in Oracle's interests.
>...
> I don't think anyone (at least in management) at Oracle believes that it
> is in Oracle's best interest that one of its flagship products should be held
> completely hostage to the demands of a community who may or may
> not have Oracle's best interests at heart.
Wow.
What a complete change of corporate perspective and individual attitude.
If this is indeed a valid reflection of Oracle's mindset, we've gone from
an open community of developers in 2005 where Sun actively moved
development and decision making out into the community, to its opposite,
where everything is slowly getting sucked back into Oracle.
The public signs are troubling:
* A complete silence from Oracle on the future
of the OpenSolaris developer community.
* ON is seen as "Oracle's code" and not as a
mix of Oracle and the Community's efforts.
* Oracle employees are being actively discouraged
from playing roles in the OpenSolaris community
(witness the dearth of nominations of Oracle
employees in the recent OGB elections)
* Significant parts of the Indiana project are finally
being ARC reviewed, but in private, as closed,
proprietary cases.
* Our external-to-Oracle OpenSolaris development
community is being portrayed as an enemy
that could hold one of Oracle's flagship products
hostage rather than as a partner who can add value.
* There has been effectively zero support of the OGB
in the last year by Sun/Oracle, as evidenced by the
lack of participation by and interactions with Sun's
Liaison and the leaders of Sun's OpenSolaris team.
Combined with a website team that sees itself
beholden to Sun/Oracle rather than the community,
and you get an ineffective and powerless OGB.
This sounds more like "proprietary corporate" than "open source
community" to me. Speaking as a community leader, maybe the Emperor
really doesn't have any clothes, and it *is* time to make a break - to
create a "new head of tree" and build a community identity of our own
out from under Oracle's thumb. Or not - maybe this is an
overreaction, and we should simply sit back and let things work
themselves out. In any case, it will make an interesting
conversation for the new OGB.
-John
