Since no one else is updating the community regarding OpenSolaris governance, I will…

Our Sun internal leader, Tim Cramer, has left Sun. According to his Facebook comments it appears he’s going to Dell of his own will. This was announced Jan 12th to the OGB-Dicuss list. There has been no other announcement regarding the matter that I can find.

Apparently Vincent Murphy, Engineering Director at Sun Microsystems, will take over Tim’s duties.

In a bit of sad and concerning news, John Plocher, an active, respected, and energetic member of the OpenSolaris Governing Board has been RIF’d (Reduction In Force, the new term for “downsized”). This is yet another example of Sun letting go some of its best and most energetic people. (edited; see followup post)

Mr. Plocher is an excellent man, skilled engineer and a natural born leader. Any place that he goes will be blessed and privileged to have him, and I pray that he has the opportunity to be a voice of reason in the continued evolution of OpenSolaris. Companies looking for energetic technical community leaders should jump at the opportunity to snatch him out of the market.

The OGB’s term will end soon. Nominations will likely start up at the end of February and a new OGB will be sitting as of April 1st (if we follow this historical schedule). I am afraid for the project because so much damage has been done that I can’t think of anyone who would want to sit on the utterly useless board we have.

If you are interested in why our governing board is in such a predicament, feel free to watch my OGB Presentation at the SVOSUG in Feb of ’08 (skip into the video by 1 hour for my talk). Slides are available here. The presentation is as pertinent today as ever.

PS: If anyone thinks I’m being inflammatory in this post, don’t kid yourself, I’m biting my tongue. And if you’re an outsider, no I don’t work for Sun.