ESR steps down from OSI

Hope Thelps writes "According to an article on news.com.com, Eric Raymond is stepping down from his role as president of the OSI. His replacement will be our very own Russ Nelson. "

It looks like..

[Joseph Vigneau]

Looks like Eric finally accepted the job offer from Microsoft.

Just kidding Eric, don't shoot me! :^)

I look forward to the essay

[Anonymous Coward]

I look forward to his long-winded rambling pseudo-philosophical treatise on what it feels like to step down, and how that relates to the ethos of the Open Source movement.

Holy shite!

[VE3ECM]

I *actually* got a first post.
I can not believe this is so!
Oh happy day! I think I shall call my mother and share with her the wonderous news!

Re:[tt] You could see this one coming

[Anonymous Coward]

Fanatics like ESR might do good to the cause in the early stages of revolution, but in the longer run, they will always prove to be an annoyance and will be dealt with. See, for instance, what Stalin did with the veterans of the Russian Revolution

So in this analogy, ESR is represented by the veterans, and Russ Nelson is Stalin? :/

Re:[tt] You could see this one coming

[Anonymous Coward]

Yep, it's time to execute ESR. Might as well do RMS while were at it.

Re:I look forward to the essay

[U1timateZer0]

I look forward to his long-winded rambling pseudo-philosophical treatise on what it feels like to step down, and how that relates to the ethos of the Open Source movement. I, for one, welcome our new long-winded, rambling, pseudo-philosophical overlords.

ESR stepping down from OSI ASAP? OMG!

[nganju]

Obligatory Good Morning Vietnam:
"Excuse me sir, seeing as how the VP is such a VIP, shouldn't we keep the PC on the QT, because if it leaks to the VC, you could end up an MIA, and then we'd all be put on KP."

Re:Holy shite!

[hoggoth]

> I think I shall call my mother and share with her the wonderous news!

Don't shout. Just walk upstairs from the basement and tell her.

And for only $4.99/mo

[Anonymous Coward]

You can get secret naked pictures of him touching printouts of open source code for all of your F/OSS fetish needs!

Hearing aid....

[VE3ECM]

Naw, I have to call. Her hearing aid is acting up.

Here Here!!!!

[eno2001]

But no!!! You're wrong! You're so wrong! FOSS is different. It's not meant to fall victim to the ravings of mad dictators like Fidel or the commies. ESR is simply stepping down in order to let someone else have a turn. After all, what fairness would there be in not letting everyone in the community have a shot at being the top dog for a while? ESR probably has a lot of more important things to get on with right now. I hear he has a fantastic glass eye collection he's been working on for the past decade or so. That kind of thing consumes a lot of time and would prevent one from being able to participate in FOSS evangelizationism as ESR has done. Just imagine how great his collection of glass eyes is going to be after only a year or two of being away from the FOSS evangelizationism. It would put to shame the glass eye collection that Terry Gilliam used in the cut scenes from Brazil. I, for one, welcome our hiatus taking squanderlords! (In case you people are curious, I am completely substance free)

looks?

[bano]

Does this nelson guy look as retarded as ESR does?

Re:[tt] You could see this one coming

[lucabrasi999]

. See, for instance, what Stalin did with the veterans of the Russian Revolution, or how Fidel Castro got rid of Che. Every revolution has ended up eating its children; i can't see why the Open Source Revolution should be different.

You know, a psychologist would probably be able to interpret many interesting things from your post.

Re: [tt] Nice misinformation

[Anonymous Coward]

That used to be true, but since the Open Source and Copyleft Act 2004, the OSI has been granted quasi-governmental status over Open Source licensing. Essentially, it's now illegal to create a new license that allows for the free distribution of code unless that license passes muster with the OSI.

The reasons for this are several fold. Part of it is to discourage new incompatable licenses (you can't use APSL code in Apache that can't be used in Perl that can't be used in Linux that can't be used in AROS, to give some examples.)

Part of it is to make sure that a uniform set of licenses is produced. It's no good having open source, if one group thinks you should email all changes to them, or another thinks they should be able to use your stuff in a proprietary program without permission. The OSI can level the playing field somewhat.

As you might imagine, ESR was behind the bill, lobbying for it extensively behind the scenes. "Sometimes, it takes a government to push forward progress" he said in a recent paper, "The Cauliflower and the Mattress". "We expect governments to do a job, and that's to provide for the common welfare. Open Source is a critical part of our welfare. It is at the heart not merely of the software that runs this country, but of our future. Some might say we would be better off in a world without schools, and healthcare, with only guns to defend ourselves. I say no, that's wrong. Totally backward that is. We don't need guns when we have open source. We don't need to defend ourselves when we have control over the code we run."

Google for "The Cauliflower and the Mattress" and you should find a copy. Inspiring words.

ready to try to spend his sudden wealth?

[chuckfee]

Or better yet, to write his reflections on going through life with a complete lack of social skills?

Re:I look forward to the essay

[TheRaven64]

RTFA! He's not our overlord anymore...

Tweedle dumb replaced by tweedle dumber

[Anonymous Coward]

In other news tweedle dumb replaced by tweedle dumber, and tweedle dumb replaces tweedle dee.

Just when I thought

[northcat]

A slashdot user becomes the head OSI. I think I'll burn down my computer now.

Re:Why

[northcat]

Know your history, bitch. OSI has been here for a long time, it was one the first ones, it's not "another" organisation. It's not new. It just changed the president.

Re:It looks like..

[dcrocha]

I don't think so. He stepped aside to get some more time to work in his projects like: fetchmail, and... hm... and...yeah.

Re:[tt] You could see this one coming

[wwest4]

Hippies don't typically promote the right to carry firearms.

"Surprised By Wealth"

[Ars-Fartsica]

this [slashdot.org] still makes me laugh. And I mean laughing at him, not with him.

Re:Uh, ESR is hardly a fanatic

[Leo McGarry]

I sleep much better knowing that RMS heads up the Free Software Foundation.

Oh, God, me too.

That way he's not out there doing any actual harm.

Re:looks?

[Russ Nelson]

Yeah, I do.
-russ

Re:looks?

[Russ Nelson]

And he looks like a librarian.

Thank you, Jason, I take that as a sincere compliment. Librarians are some of the fiercest defenders of the right to read.
-russ

Six Million Questions ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Who is this "Eric Raymond"? I thought Oscar Goldman was in charge at the OSI. Did he retire? The least they could have done is give Dr. Rudy Wells or Steve Austin the job as a sinecure.

Re:[tt] You could see this one coming

[ryanr]

WTF! They're all dead now!

Re:He Already Has!

[Narchie Troll]

Looking at a photo of ESR while reading "Sex Tips for Geeks" is a great way to make your genitive organs refuse to operate -- permanently.

Re:Here Here!!!!

[The Slashdot Guy]

(In case you people are curious, I am completely substance free)

So is your post.

Re:[tt] You could see this one coming

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought Che left to "spend more time with his family" - and also to expand his very sucessful t-shirt business.

Re:The problem is

[dillon_rinker]

It doesn't require fomenting armed revolution

Which, by the way, is something that ESR does. That's what libertarian gun ownership is all about - if you don't like the government, you shoot at it.

Re:More info on Russ Nelson

[Russ Nelson]

[nelson@desk nelson]$ ping google.com
PING google.com (216.239.39.99) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 216.239.39.99: icmp_seq=0 ttl=237 time=90.3 ms
64 bytes from 216.239.39.99: icmp_seq=1 ttl=237 time=103 ms
64 bytes from 216.239.39.99: icmp_seq=2 ttl=237 time=75.5 ms
64 bytes from 216.239.39.99: icmp_seq=3 ttl=237 time=129 ms

--- google.com ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet loss, time 3000ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 75.598/99.877/129.919/19.979 ms, pipe 2

Re:More info on Russ Nelson

[Russ Nelson]

Very well sir, your wit seems to be in order. You have my blessing to lead the OSI. ;-)

Thank you. YOu are a scholar and a gentleman. What are you doing posting to slashdot?!?
-russ
p.s. yes, I realize that I, myself, am posting to slashdot. It's called irony, or stupidity, or something, I dunno......

The most important project

[Pan T. Hose]

Looks like Eric finally accepted the job offer from Microsoft.

I don't think so. He stepped aside to get some more time to work in his projects like: fetchmail, and... hm... and...yeah.

Why does everyone keep forgetting about the most important project? I've heard that Eric went to Thailand to finally get some empirical data for his HOWTO [catb.org].