{"id":577,"date":"2006-09-13T21:20:03","date_gmt":"2006-09-14T05:20:03","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=577"},"modified":"2006-09-13T21:28:44","modified_gmt":"2006-09-14T05:28:44","slug":"jp-rangaswami-on-how-the-osp-feels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.identityblog.com\/?p=577","title":{"rendered":"JP Rangaswami on how the OSP “feels”"},"content":{"rendered":"

A number of people have been writing good things about the Open Specification Promise.  The expression of good will speaks volumes about why I continue to love this milieu, and the people in it.<\/p>\n

Your personal support in moving our work forward means a lot to Mike Jones and me.<\/p>\n

I'm certain it will influence the way events unfold in the future.<\/p>\n

Take a look at this piece by JP Rangaswami<\/a>, author of Confused of Calcutta<\/a>. I think he expresses what a lot of people are feeling. <\/p>\n

Ambrose Bierce<\/font><\/a>, in The Devil\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Dictionary<\/font><\/a>, defined a cynic<\/strong><\/em> as follows:<\/p>\n

A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be. Hence the custom among the Scythians of plucking out a cynic\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s eyes to improve his vision.<\/font><\/p>\n

Many years later, Albert Einstein<\/font><\/a> defined common sense as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.<\/p>\n

As I grow older, I realise that however hard I try to keep an open mind, and to learn, I land up with anchors and frames and perspective-biases that I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t always know I have. Which means that sometimes I have to work hard to ensure that I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t lapse insidiously into cynicism.<\/p>\n

So you can understand why I had to work very hard indeed when analysing the Microsoft Open Specification Promise<\/font><\/a> that was published yesterday. If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re interested in the subject, then please do check out Kim Cameron\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s blog here<\/font><\/a>,  Doc\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s piece at IT Garage<\/font><\/a> (where he asks for your opinion as well) and Phil Windley\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s blog here<\/font><\/a>, along with Becker and Norlin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Digital ID World blog at ZDNet<\/font><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Microsoft are not known for their pioneering approaches in the opensource world. Identity is one of the three big issues that affects our ability to deliver the promise of today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s technology (the other two are Intellectual Property\/Digital Rights and the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153internet\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, with or without Stevens\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Tubes). A valid solution for identity pretty much needs Microsoft\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s support and that of its legions of lawyers.<\/p>\n

And so we come to the Open Specification Promise<\/font><\/a>. My early reactions? I think Kim Cameron and his team have done a brilliant job at pulling this off<\/strong><\/em> and getting something workable past the lawyers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 cynosure.<\/p>\n

If you want to understand it, and don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t particularly feel like wading through \u00e2\u20ac\u0153implication, exhaustion, estoppel or otherwise\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (and who could blame you?), then skip the legalese and go straight to the Frequently Asked Questions section.<\/strong><\/em> I quote from the FAQs:<\/p>\n