[OSM-talk] License/CT issues: Let's not punish the world's disadvantaged, pls.

[Frederik Ramm]

Nic,

Nic Roets wrote:
> A modern democratic government would have found a way to defuse the
> situation long ago.

I've actually thought about that for quite a while and came to the 
conclusion that the problems we're seeing are probably due to OSM being 
such an unstructured, little-governed project.

If this project were one with a strong leadership and a more rigid 
structure - so, skip the whole "OMSF doesn't want to rule the project" 
stuff and so on -, then that leadership could probably have pulled 
through the license change in a more organised fashion, and even one 
that is - or at least looks! - more "democratic". (I say "at least 
looks" because I have seen the inside of some such organisations and 
generally you have a situation where the board decides what info goes 
into the glossy membership magazine and what doesn't, so they usually 
get whatever they want rubber-stamped by a majority.)

But even if we had such a more strictly organised project with a strong 
leadership - something that I would oppose -, I don't really think that 
this situation could be "defused" in any way. I mean, look at it - how 
many people are making a fuss here? I think I count 6 or 7. Let's be 
generous and say there are 20. Could even the best, brightest, and most 
professional OSMF board ever implement a license change process where we 
would *not* have 20 people arguing bitterly and spreading/believing all 
sorts of FUD? Considering human nature, would it really be possible? 
Could one implement a process so even, so fair, so smooth, that you 
would *not* have 20 people who claim that their voice hasn't been heard, 
that everyone is making a big mistake, and that we're all doomed?

I'm not saying that perfection shouldn't be strived for, but in the end 
you have to break some eggs to make an omelette, and I think on the 
whole we're not doing too bad.

Bye
Frederik

-- 
Frederik Ramm  ##  eMail frederik at remote.org  ##  N49°00'09" E008°23'33"