Since I tend to be more of a ruminant than
an improvisational type, I thought I'd put together a few thoughts before
the meeting next week, and allow folks to think about it between now and
then. At that time, my plan is to bring it forward as a motion. So
this should either be an agenda item, or we need to leave some time for
AOB.
Motion:
Change the name of the “IDtrust” member
section to the “Identity, Trust and the Cloud” member section
Rationale:
As a steering committee, we have discussed ways to better
harness the energies around cloud computing. Absent a concrete proposal,
we have general consensus that such energies exist, that they are likely
to persist, and that attracting relevant standards activities to OASIS
would benefit all. This motion is an attempt to solidify that general
consensus into an action that drives forward motion.
This
motion reflects the common understanding that this is not a re-chartering
effort, that cloud is not a revolution, but rather an evolutionary step
further down the distributed computing path on which IDtrust has already
made great progress. We wish not to denigrate the work already happening
in IDtrust, nor to give cloud more emphasis than it deserves, but to acknowledge
the attention that cloud is receiving in the press and the member companies.
Reworking the name of the member section to include “cloud” seems
to achieve that nuanced accommodation.
Other
variations of the name were considered, like “Cloud IDtrust” (which would
preserve the geeky chic of the original “IDtrust”), but this would likely
be spoken of as “clouded trust”, which is not at all the message we would
wish to convey. “Cloud and IDtrust” would be another possibility,
but that name seems to fail to reflect the true synergy between the two
areas, almost as if the two are being contrasted with each other.
Bruce A Rich
brich at-sign us dot ibm dot com