Thread: A significant day in community governance?
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momcilo is offline momcilo
2011-08-03 , 16:39
Posts: 673 | Thanked: 856 times | Joined on Mar 2006
#83
According to: http://www.linuxfoundation.org/about/members :
Linux foundation members:
Platinum:
  • Fujitsu
  • Hitachi
  • IBM
  • Intel
  • NEC
  • Oracle
  • Qualcomm (QUIC)

Gold:
  • AMD
  • China Mobile
  • Cisco
  • Etri
  • Google
  • HP
  • Motorola
  • NetAPP
  • Nokia
  • Novell
  • Panasonic
  • Toyota

Silver:
skipped

Members of the Linux Foundation support the neutral development, promotion and protection of the platform with their membership fees. By becoming a corporate or individual member, you can proudly say you support these activities:
  • Employing key Linux fellows, including Linus Torvalds, to ensure they can focus 100% of their attention on maintaining and furthering the Linux platform
  • Administering and defending the Linux trademark to protect the investment in the brand “Linux”
  • Facilitating crucial administrative, technical and legal functions for the Kernel developer community to enable them to continue to advance the platform
  • Serving as the neutral voice for Linux with press and analysts to ensure that Linux is defended against competitor threats and remains a successful, thriving and growing operating system
  • Increasing the number of applications on the Linux platform through its developer services
  • Serving as a proxy between the community, industry and end users to ensure everyone’s needs are best understood and that collaboration solutions are optimized
  • Holding neutral collaboration and legal events to ensure the platform is advanced and protected
  • Providing a neutral forum for technical collaboration and standardization
This remainds me of ISO committees. It's there to facilitate open international standards, but over the time the organisation was infested with big corporations and interest groups. They pay big money for sitting in the committees which work on standards, vote on the them and publish them.

This kind of system allows members to influence standars and maintain awareness of developments.

Is there any place for community there?
NO

This kind of organization is not for small companies or communities.

The decision is not surprising, all of the members have significant patent portfolios and long history of patent fights.

Do they want community?
NO, their goal is to marginalise organisations such as FSF.

My guess is that several of the for-mentioned entities have created informal interest group which has pushed this decision.

Similar things happened in past with OASIS standard.

Think about entrusting wolves with the well being of a sheep.

Meee, Meeee.....
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Last edited by momcilo; 2011-08-03 at 16:48.
 

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