Open Source Initiative

Dear OSI Community,

As part of our ongoing effort to improve transparency and encourage participation, the Open Source Initiative is announcing a major restructuring of our public mailing lists, effective immediately. Moving forward, OSI's public discussions of Open Source issues will be concentrated on three major mailing lists:

1. License-Review
   This new, tightly-focused list is specifically for evaluating licenses with respect to both whether they conform to the OSD (for purpose of OSI Approval) and how they impact proliferation (relative to the pre-defined categories), in accordance with the revised License Approval Process. It will be managed by Russ Nelson, Chair of the Licensing Committee.
2. License-Discuss
   With the creation of license-review, this list is being repurposed as a general forum to deepen the community's understanding of licensing issues. To assist in this mission, we are also creating a corresponding Open Source License FAQ to captures the community's "best understanding" of common issues. The list will be moderated (as needed) by Ernest Prabhakar, OSI Board Observer.
3. OSI-Discuss
   In addition, we are creating a brand new list for the community to provide feedback and input on the OSI's operations as a whole. In particular, this list is a place where anyone can request (and volunteer for!) activities they feel the OSI should pursue. As such, this acts as the "parent list" for Membership, the Open Standards Requirement, Women in Open Source, and other initiatives that are currently on hold pending new leadership and clarified charters. This list will be managed by Michael Tiemann, OSI Board President.

Note that in keeping with OSI's belief in the power of open communities, all of these lists are open to the public. All we ask is that people read and observe the relevant charters, to ensure a positive experience for everyone involved.

Also, in light of these developments, we are also officially dissolving the separate License Proliferation Committee. We thank those members for their tireless and thankless efforts, and look forward to working with the community through License Review to build upon their fine work.

Sincerely,
The Board of the Open Source Initiative