Optaros EOS will take the licensing question seriously

Optaros has launched its Enterprise Open Source Directory.

It is a very good thing, better than a plate of Martha Stewart bran muffins. That is partly because it has listing criteria, including only those projects which are truly enterprise class.

But in doing this it also includes projects like SugarCRM whose open source bonafides are subject to question.

You will be glad to know that Optaros takes those questions seriously.

"We agree that the words open source should refer to programs that meet the definition," said Dave Gynn, director of enterprise tools and frameworks for Optaros. "If we lose the common vocabulary all our efforts become useless."

So Gynn is looking for ways to make that clear. "We’re going to add an OSI-approved button," perhaps a version of the group's trademarked logo (right). "This will introduce the concept to people.

"A lot of people don’t want to put a black flag next to these things, believing we should not include" programs like SugarCRM in the directory at all.

But this would be misleading, I feel, because many, many enterprises do use programs which, like Sugar, have licenses that do not meet OSI standards.

"Most people who come to this directory are very new to open source," Gynn said. A fair introduction to the license controversy, the issues, and a visual cue for OSI-approved projects will help make this very good thing even better.

Of course, feel free to disagree. That's one reason I think Gynn talked to me, so he can hear it from you.