From the ‘what another open foundation?‘ files:
PORTLAND. Dave Recordon of blogging vendor SixApart (they make MovableType which is the tech that powers this blog). just officially announced on the OSCON stage something called – The Open Web Foundation. The group is being supported by Google, SixApart, MySpace, Facebook among others.
Recordon said that he didn’t really want to help start a new web standards organization but in his view no other group was doing – or wanted to do what the Open Web Foundation will do.
So what will they do?
According to Recordon – OWF will be focussed on open web standards to ensure data portability. The official explanation is that they are an independent non-profit dedicated to the
development and protection of open, non-proprietary specifications for
web technologies.
Frankly sitting here in the OSCON auditorium – I didn’t get it. We’ve got far too many open specification groups already in my view and adding yet another to the mix further dilutes a crowded landscape. Sure open specification are great but aren’t there enough groups out there and it’s time to consolidate efforts and not create new ones.
I’m going to try and connect with Recordon at some point today (they’ve got a BOF here end of day) and I’ll see if I’m wrong on this initial opinion that I’ve got – cause maybe I’m missing something (or not).
*UPDATE* I did meet up Recordon later in the day – and after a really great conversation – I get it. I’ll have a full writeup over on the main site soon * .