Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2000 12:00:47 -0700
Mr. Rod Welch
rowelch@attglobal.net
The Welch Company
440 Davis Court #1602
San Francisco, CA 94111 2496
FACE="Times Roman" SIZE=5 COLOR="black"> Subject: | FACE="Times Roman" SIZE=4 COLOR="black"> Towards an SDS enterprise |
Rod,
Following up on our lunchtime conversation yesterday, I am including a very rough draft (not even complete yet) of a sketch of a business model that I think could satisfy the open source needs I have expressed.
As I have said to you many times, I cannot take any time (oops, I just did) to think much about any project that is not fully intended to be open source. I personally cannot and will not take time to develop some "core" technology that would be licensed out to the OSS world; we open source jockeys abhor black boxes.
Thus, as I sketched to you and Howard, there could exist an enterprise that supports both proprietary and open source software, ala http://www.lutris.com that supports http://www.lutris.com that supports http://www.enhydra.org.
The attachment is just one suggestion (mine) on how that might be done. I shall bring a couple of printed copies of this paper to hand to selected individuals (e.g. Pat, Cliff, ???) to help get this conversation going.
Please note that I have placed great emphasis on the notion of full disclosure. I have spent some time at your SDS site and have commented that your technology is potentially very useful to the OHS/DKR effort. I would like to employ SDS to the fullest extent that it is now implemented in that project. But, this letter is not simply a ploy to gain access to your technology; I view the technology as greatly valuable (as do you) "out there" in commercial land. Thus, participation in such an enterprise would be of interest to me as well. My criteria for participation, however, remains OSS access. I believe that I have sketched a solid line between the needs of SDS and the needs of OSS.
Sincerely,
VERTICALNET
Jack
Jack Park
jackpark@verticalnet.com
Copy to:
The intent of this proposal is to sketch a business model by
which an organization can be created to implement and
promote applications of SDS technology.
A problem is created when Rod Welch wishes to produce
proprietary versions of his SDS system while soliciting
consultations with individuals who are committed to Open
Source projects.
This document outlines a mechanism by which the SDS
Knowledge Management System can be constructed in a
proprietary fashion, while satisfying the Open Source
requirements of candidate authors on the project.
We propose a business model in which an entity (DotCom) is
created, funded with venture capital, supported by
contracts, sales, and so forth, and which operates to serve
two purposes.
We present two sides of the "coin" related to the proposed
solution. We admit that these arguments are, in all likelihood,
not complete, perhaps not even accurate.
A Knowledge Management system as constructed by Rod Welch and
colleagues. The SDS may be viewed at
http://www.welchco.com
The
use of the term SDS in this document refers to an implementation
created under proprietary environment by entity itself. A baseline
metric for use in the definition of SDS used here is the full
functionality of the computer program(s) that result in documents
available at welchco.com. It is important to note that, from time
to time, the functionality of the SDS as represented at the welchco
web site may be enhanced or improved. Such enhancements are
intended to be included in this definition. However, from time to
time, new features may be added to SDS. Those new features are not
considered to be a part of the SDS. Therefore, for purposes of the
implementation of an entity as expressed here, it is wise to
perform an inventory of present SDS functionality.
The key to this proposal. SDS is presumed to work with
(e.g. create, read, edit, etc) files that are capable of
being stored on a computer disk, serialized and sent to
other computers, formatted and displayed, and so forth.
This proposal advances the notion that if the file format of
SDS is fully disclosed, it will be possible for the open
source community to construct implementations of SDS and,
thus, advance the SDS state of the art.
A documents which grants rights and defines responsibilities
for Open Source Users of the SDS File Format.
Any individual or entity that produces software in
accordance with the SDS documents and license.
A project of the Bootstrap Institute:
http://www.bootstrap.org
An SDS-like software package is
thought to be useful as one component of the OHS/DKR system.
Bootstrap Institute would be an instance of Open Source
User.
Extensible Markup Language
A particular Tag that establishes the kind of document being
represented.
A marker within a document. Within XML, tags are paired,
meaning that there is a start tag and an end tag. For
instance, the tags for the author of a document itself might
look like:
In order to achieve the goal of advancing the state of the
art of SDS technology, it is necessary to permit
implementations of SDS technology within the open source
community. To do so, a File Format is created that will
ensure interoperability of all implementations of SDS
technology. Full Disclosure means, specifically, that all
Tags are fully described. This means that each tag is fully
described as to how its content is created and used. For
some tags (e.g. *author*), the description is obvious. For
others, (e.g. *time* and *subject*), complex relationships
may exist; those relationships must be fully disclosed. How
those relationships are implemented need not be disclosed.
The lone measure of success intended by this document is
that of full interoperability of the SDS system
(defined
above under SDS) through sharing of files between SDS and
implementations generated in the open source community.
The proposal is to create an entity (DotCom - e.g. SDS.com)
that:
Entity is intended to be a conventional "dotcom" enterprise
that maintains a "dotorg" enterprise in support of the Open
Source community. Entity will establish relationships with
venture capital organizations. An example of such an entity
is
http://www.lutris.com
which maintains
http://www.enhydra.org
to support its web server technology.
Relationship with government research agencies
Numerous government agencies (e.g. LANL) have programs that
are related to SDS technology. For this reason, it is
reasonable to assume that relationships in the form of
consulting contracts, cooperative research projects, and
other kinds will be established in order to move the
development of SDS technology forward.
Relationship with Open Source community
A relationship with the open source community is desired for
purposes of establishing a broad support base for SDS
technology. An example of a member of the open source
community is the OHS/DKR project, where SDS technology is
believed to be of value as one component of a software
project of greater ambition than present SDS technology.
Indeed, by way of this cooperation, it may be that OHS/DKR
technology will find its way back into SDS technology.
This proposal advances the notion that, for the open source
community to be able to create implementations of SDS
technology, it is reasonable to release to that community
such information as will enable those implementations. The
criteria for success of this venture are associated with
full interoperability of open source projects with files
created with the SDS product itself.
This proposal advocates the application of an XML namespace
to the construction of a file format. Typically, one
thinks, in terms of a "file format", of the so-called flat
file, much like a spreadsheet or word processor document.
With XML, the file format need not be restricted to flat
files, given that XML lends itself well to use in relational
database schemas. Thus, the proposed file format does not
restrict that way in which SDS documents can be stored or
transmitted.
A significant advantage of an XML format is that, with use
of style sheets associated with the XSL (XML Style Language)
standard, it is possible to convert an SDS document into any
presentation format desired by those who interact with the
document. This renders SDS documents available on the web,
printed on paper, or available on palm computers.
We propose an XML doctype with the name SDSML. We further
propose that an XML DTD be created to support this. Thus, a
typical SDS document might look something like this
fragment:
Full disclosure of technology to support all tags
Full disclosure is discussed above under Ontology.
It is
intended that there be standardized within SDSML a complete
set of tags. Should SDS add tags to the file format from
time to time, those tags must become part of the published
standard. Let us reiterate a key point on disclosure of
technology. It is not intended to disclose the details of
any particular code generated internally in the
implementation of SDS; rather it is intended that the
relationships, including algorithms, formulas, and so forth
are, in fact, disclosed. How those relationships,
algorithms, or formulas are implemented is left entirely up
to the open source community. Criteria of success is
measured in level of interoperability between SDS and other
implementations.
An Open Source license is the key to the success of any
venture implementing this proposal.
Copyright ownership is owned entirely by entity. This means
that any contributions to the technology of SDS will fall
under that license; contributions made internally or
externally (in the open source community) fall into the
meaning of contributions.
It will be of great importance, in structuring a License, to
formulate a precise distinction to those elements of
software that constitute a contribution to the SDS
technology, and those which simply extend SDS by adding new
features. As an example, consider the Bootstrap project -
OHS/DKR. This project will likely add numerous features to
perform aspects of knowledge management that are outside the
present SDS capability. Such extensions should not be
considered as part of the SDS license.
Rights of entity
Responsibilities
Responsibilities of open source users
Towards an SDS Development Enterprise
Author:
Jack Park
Date:
25 July 2000
Draft version:
0.1
Intent and Problem
Introduction
Pro
Relationship with venture capital