Discussions with plh [was: Moving Forward]

Sam Ruby wrote:
> 
> I am to discuss with 
> plh the rather disquieting state where the very charter of this group is 
> evolving without the participation of this group:
> 
>   http://www.w3.org/html/wg/tracker/actions/77
> 
> Other things I plan to discuss with plh: the rather dysfunctional status 
> of this working group, the W3C license, and the relationship with XHTML2.

Earlier today, I had a phone call with Philippe Le Hégaret 
<http://www.w3.org/People/LeHegaret/>.

We did not discuss these things in the above order, but we covered all 
the points.

= Topic 1: License =

We started with the license.  In my discussions with Ian and at Mozilla, 
I gathered that it was a shared understanding that by October that the 
license for the W3C license would be somehow open source friendly, and 
specifically that a Creative Commons Attribution license was something 
that was of common and general interest.

Philippe remains highly supportive of this direction, and indicated that 
it would be helpful to him if this were more than simply a general 
understanding, but instead were an explicit decision of the working group.

I already know that this is the intent and desire of Ian.  Therefore, I 
intend to place on Thursday's agenda a request for supporters and/or 
objections on this direction.  If we get a minimum of two independent 
supporters and no objections by the following Thursday, I'll inform plh 
of the decision.  If we don't, I'll continue to work the issue, giving 
people an opportunity to request a poll and/or I'll work with people to 
help them clarify their objections.

= Topic 2: Charter =

We talked about the charter change.  Apparently, it was viewed as an 
oversight and corrected as such.  After a brief discussion we both 
agreed that the way forward was to first revert the charter back to what 
actually was approved, and then we can work to resolve the overlap with 
the XHTML2.

If the charter isn't reverted in a week's time, I fully intend to start 
pestering plh and/or reassess options on how to address the issue.

= Topic 3: XHTML2 =

Regarding the overlap with XHTML2, this issue will take months to 
resolve, and frankly isn't my highest priority.  We talked about some 
options, including some ideas that aren't ready to be publicly shared; 
for now let's just say that I'm comfortable with this working group 
proceeding on the assumption that this working group can use the xhtml 
mime type and 1999 namespace, and that during the course of this year 
the overlap will be addressed.  Feel free to read into the above 
whatever you like (including something along the lines of Sam being 
naïve or hopelessly optimistic).

= Topic 4: Dysfunctional =

On the dysfunctional aspects of the working group, we talked about a few 
specifics, and I reported on my meetings in Mountain View last week, 
which I viewed as being highly productive.  I expressed an optimism that 
things were improving (again, feel free to insert your own assessment of 
my naïvité).  In any case, I plan to continue what I have been doing, 
which presumably satisfies the definition for insanity.

- Sam Ruby

Received on Monday, 2 February 2009 21:53:45 UTC