I am on the board of directors, and have been so for nearly four years now. I was present at the time the Incubator was established, and voted for it. I do believe that I am qualified to speak to what the original and true motivation of the incubator was then and is now. Furthermore, we have seen such people as Roy Fielding reconfirm key aspects of the intent of the incubator.
Much of the original intent traces back to Brian Behlendorf, who while he isn't quite as active in these circles as he once was, is still very much an advocate of using the success of the ASF as a platform for advocacy, education, and outreach to the corporate world. As I said, my perspective is different than yours. What I see is people who try to "move the goalposts" and establish ad-hoc rules to exclude people and proposals they don't intend to participate in. Most such efforts are self-defeating, so I don't get too worked up about it. One such attempt on the Kabuki proposal, however, in particular bothers greatly. You see, I don't care too much about the current state of code, I do strongly believe that a good community will correct all such wrongs. (Note: I would like to see Kabuki deliver on its server agnostic potential, and may end up exploring contribution of Python and/or Ruby code to help seed this). What I DO care more about is communities and the people that make them up. As I have come to believe that tasks assigned to many are effectively assigned to nobody, I would prefer that there be either a single or primary mentor for Kabuki. And frankly, I believe that Andy is the best person for that job. One attempt to "move the goalposts" was to disqualify Andy as he was "in the pay of the project sponsor". The clear implication being that Andy isn't one of "us", he is one of "them" and can't be trusted. I defy anybody to attempt to apply that particular standard to Roy Fielding and JackRabbit. You see, I know Andy. He was one of "us" long before he was ever one of "them". Two employers ago, he worked for IBM. Out of respect for the individual, IBM has a policy as to what information can be can be shared when people leave the company, and out of respect for that policy and for Andy I won't comment further than saying that he left in good standing with IBM -- which is IBM's way of saying that he would be welcome back (with all the normal disclaimers, like there being an opening that matched his skills, etc.). At the time Andy left, he was working on Xerces. After he left, he continued to work on Xerces, and attained ASF membership status based on these efforts. I can think of no better indicator that somebody really has a passion for the ASF and the projects it provides a home for than than for them to leave their current employer and for them to continue to work on a project that they clearly believe in. Andy is truly one of "us". And the best way that I know of to create more like him, execute on the advocacy vision of Brian, and the mission of the incubator as established by the ASF board, is to help Andy create a vibrant, diverse, and sustainable community around Kabuki. - Sam Ruby --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
