Bruce Perens Voted off SPI Board

An anonymous reader writes "ComputerWorld is reporting that open source evangelist Bruce Perens has been ousted from the board of Software in the Public Interest. Even though he founded the organization he said it was time to move on, stating that he probably shouldn't have run but just couldn't let it go. It seems that for the time being Perens in content to focus on the truly important things, like watching his son grow and making time for his family. I just hope that he isn't gone for too long."

Re:Miswording

[retrosteve]

Could actually be a bit of both. Running for a position when your heart isn't in it can lead to losing that position. Or getting booted off your own board can help you see that you really haven't been prioritizing it.

Re:Miswording

[Anonymous Coward]

'ousted' is almost certainly the wrong word, it implies he was kicked out, whereas in fact the article shows that essentially he was simply not re-elected at a normal set of elections, and that he understands why, and thinks he probably shouldn't have stood in the first place...

Re:You're Fired!

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, that happens when your operations are open. Personally it has a humanizing effect, but there is always someone who wants to make a scandal out of things.

Re:Miswording

[Hope Thelps]

I missed oh, 8 out of 12 board meetings due to being on airplanes (doing stuff for Open Source) and otherwise being busy. And that really pissed people off.

That shouldn't piss people off but it is a good reason to not re-elect you. It's better that someone with the time to attend the meetings is on the Board (provided that they are also otherwise suited to the position). That in no way denigrates the other things you do with your time.

Re:"Slashdot for Grown-Ups"?? Zing! Pow! Wham!

[Bruce Perens]

(But do you kinda sorta think that your new competitive venture against slashdot is why your own dirty laundry got posted here by an AC? I'm just askin'...)

I don't know. Technocrat.net is still very small potatoes next to Slashdot. Makes about $10 a day on google ads, which I pay to Zogger, the only paid editor. I doubt the Slashdot operators would mind a bit. But I do find that stuff I submit is less likely to run than links to stuff I submitted to other sites which are then submitted to Slashdot by third parties. You would think that Slashdot would like to get the news from the horses's mouth rather than some other part of the horse :-) One of the editors explained to me once that they do defensive postings, which means that they get so many people submitting the same article that they post it just to get them to shut up, but they really did not want to run that story at all. Maybe that's what happened this time. Interesting the effect that the internet has on editorial policy.

Bruce

If I called you on the phone I'd say

[Progman3K]

Good luck to you.
You're an inspiration to many.

By the way, I have a buddy who was up until very recently working in Montreal for a fairly big hardware/software firm. His wife got offered a job with Cisco in the US (South Carolina) and they (plus their two children) decided to move.

This meant (for him) abandonning his well-paying, well-established job.
I asked him what he planned to do for a job down in Raleigh, he answered "Take care of the kids"
"What?"
"Yup, that's it, that's all. I've been too busy with a million activities" he went on "I want to take care of my kids"
I thought about for a second, smiled and said "Those kids will be luckier than most"

Re:If I called you on the phone I'd say

[Bruce Perens]

Thanks! Valerie (my wife) and Stanley (my 6-year-old son) are here in Norway with me. I am teaching about Open Source at HiA (Agder University College) in Grimstad, but the main reason for the trip is so that Stanley can live in another country for three weeks and see that the way we do things in the U.S. is not the only way. I am very, very lucky to be able to do this. It's all because I gave away my software and talked about it! Everything that I've given away has come back 10 times over.

Thanks

Bruce

Re:Miswording

[Marcion]

I think it is really brave that Bruce came on here to discuss a post about himself.

As for the random SPI board, as an old Catholic Priest I used to know said when asked why he did not attend formal meetings, "For God so loved the world, he did not send a committee".

Re:As someone who was there

[budgenator]

yeah so what's your point, when your out there doing things, there is a tendency to offend people who are out there talking about doing things. If the organisation was founded to push an agenda and the agenda get taken over by a bunch of mamby-pamby soccer-mom types who just want everyone to get along; sometimes the passion gets lost. Linus pisses people off, RMS pisses people off a lot of people pisses people off, I'd rather be around people that piss me off, they're usualy the honest ones.
Parent posts under his name, Parens posts his Email address, Parens post his freaken cellphone number, you post Anonymous Coward.

Re:Miswording

[Russ Nelson]

Oh, yes, no question but that I'm a corporate tool. I suck up to Microsoft every day. Heck, I'm even wearing an Open Source Labs at Microsoft T-shirt (they were giving them away at OSCON)! I've taken the pledge, drunk the kool-aid.

Or maybe you're an idiot?