I must say that I am truly baffled by this posting. Perhaps Ben can enlighten us on who is spreading these "rumors questioning OpenForce's dedication to free software and the OpenACS community."
As far as I am concerned anyone who is spreading this rumor should be taken to the woodshed and given a sound beating. I will be the first to get in line with the paddle.
Before Ben left for vacation, I asked him to serve as dotLRN kernel gatekeeper. Don Baccus, as chair of the dotLRN Technical Board, asked if someone from OpenForce could also serve on the Technical Board. Make no mistake about it, this would have given Ben and OpenForce *THE* dominant voice in setting technical direction for dotLRN. This was in recognition of Ben and OpenForce's contribution in developing dotLRN. Ben said that he would give his answer after returning from vacation. Note: *THE* dominant voice does not mean the *ONLY* voice.
As many of you know, dotLRN is generating tremendous interest and momentum because of the work of everyone concerned. However, every day that goes without achieving clarity and transparency we lose potential adopters and potential funding. We need to move on with the governance for dotLRN. We need to know *how* OpenForce wishes to particpate in dotLRN. The issue is not whether OpenForce contributed to dotLRN or is committed to open source. Who the hell questions that? However, we need to be clear as soon as possible on how OpenForce wishes to participate in dotLRN. No one expects OpenForce to do all the work. But we need to know who is going to write the developer documentation. When will the code be released officially? How will bugs be tracked? On and On and On.
Do I expect OpenForce to do it all? No. It's precisely because OpenForce can't do it all that we need to know what OpenForce is willing to do and can realistically be expected to do. Whatever it can contribute, the community will be grateful as in the past.
When Ben returned from vacation, we received an email from him declining to serve as gatekeeper or have OpenForce representation. That's a business decision that Ben needs to make, one which he has every right to make, and for which he will be respected. Ben does not believe that the governance plan for dotLRN will work. Carl and I asked him to reconsider. I will post my email message below. I won't post Ben's original message rejecting participation in dotLRN governance unless he wishes to do so himself. We did not receive a reply from Ben. Instead, I saw this posting.
Aside from posting my email to Ben, this will be the one and only posting from me on this topic. I need to spend my energies on dotLRN and all the work that remains to be done, not chasing rumors and innuendoes.
