that’s whacked

OGB candidates

Tuesday, Mar 4. 2008  –  Category: OpenSolaris

Glynn just posted the official candidates running the 2008 OpenSolaris Governing Board. Yes, I’ve been nominated again - but this entry is about my concerns as a voter, not as someone running for a board position:

There are some fine candidates on that list (and I can easily think of 7 better more qualified people that should be elected other than myself)… but for me, my dilemma is this…

Do I vote for the people who best understand the current situation/model/issues? Do I vote for the people who best understand where the community should head to next? Are their candidates that fit both of those? I’m not sure. I think there are some candidates who, due to their positions inside Sun, are notably well-suited to be both a voice and an internal advocate for board-decisions. Do I also think those same people could be used to influence the board unduly? Probably, sure. Is that so bad? I’m not sure.

In other words, should the board members vote in favour of the community as it exists? In favour of the community that it could grow to be? In favour of their company’s interests? Or in favour of their own personal interests?

Tough to say. Sometimes these 4 factors are at odds with each other (witness Indiana creating tension between the first two). Sometimes they aren’t. And these aren’t unique to our cloistered little community… should elected officials in American politics be looking out for the Americans who voted for them, or growing the future American immigrants? Tough call.

Sigh. This is going to be a pivotal election. Arguably more so than last year’s given this year’s issues, and the past year’s education and understanding.

I definitely have more thinking I need to do.

I posted this to the list, but for visibility’s sake, I’ll post it to my blog as well so p.o.o. picks it up as well…

In the interests of satisfying the proposed amendment to Article VI of the constitution, section 6.3: I work for Pioneers of the Inevitable, Inc. (aka Songbird). It has no current commercial interest in OpenSolaris, other than working to support community members (in both the OpenSolaris & Songbird communities) who have interest in porting Songbird to OpenSolaris. Conceivably, it could be a supported platform in the future; at that time, there may be more of a commercial interest.