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Open Source Initiative bans co-founder, Eric S Raymond:
Last week, Eric S Raymond (often known as ESR, author of The Cathedral and the Bazaar, and co-founder of the Open Source Intiative) was banned from the Open Source Intiative[sic] (the "OSI").
Specifically, Raymond was banned from the mailing lists used to organize and communicate with the OSI.
For an organization to ban their founder from communicating with the group (such as via a mailing list) is a noteworthy move.
At a time when we have seen other founders (of multiple Free and Open Source related initiatives) pushed out of the organizations they founded (such as with Richard Stallman being compelled to resign from the Free Software Foundation, or the attempts to remove Linus Torvalds from the Linux Kernel – both of which happened within the last year) it seems worth taking a deeper look at what, specifically, is happening with the Open Source Initiative.
I don't wish to tell any of you what you should think about this significant move. As such I will simply provide as much of the relevant information as I can, show the timeline of events, and reach out to all involved parties for their points of view and comments.
The author provides links to — and quotations from — entries on the mailing list supporting this. There is also a conversation the author had with ESR. The full responses he received to his queries are posted, as well.
(Score: 2) by Spamalope on Wednesday March 11 2020, @06:31AM (2 children)
I thought the software was missing sanity checking on the extent of its action. i.e. It should only ever deflect the control enough to counter the movement of the center of thrust the new engines caused, which should never be enough to overcome the control stick input. (that's what I got from some airline pilots going over the investigation so far anyhow - in addition to the single point of failure and Boeing making safety features expensive upsell items)
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Wednesday March 11 2020, @04:49PM (1 child)
That doesn't match with my understanding.
The relocation of the engines meant that the plane could become unstable, and/or stall, if flown at a high angle of attack. MCAS would periodically trim downward if its sensor (singular!) indicated this, and bring the plane back "level". If the sensor input was faulty, well...
The intended procedure for overriding MCAS' input was the same as any issue with the electronic trim system: disable it, and revert to the manual trim wheels. (There wasn't any specific guidance on MCAS, as its existence wasn't explicitly referred to in the training material.)
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Sunday March 15 2020, @04:16PM
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