The CSA has kept quite busy these first two months of 2016, with a primary focus on reconciling all of the comments received from industry on the Draft Guidelines. The Guidelines Sub-Committee held a series of conference calls to fulfill its mandate, and a final set.
The Guidelines Sub-Committee held a series of conference calls to fulfill its mandate, and a final set of recommendations will be forwarded to the CSA Taskforce in due course. This does mean that our self-imposed “deadline” of late January/early February for finalization of the Guidelines has been missed, but this is largely due to the near doubling of the original allotment of time for Sub-Committee discussion. This conscious decision ensured all Sub-Committee members could be heard, and all comments could be given due review and consideration. On a personal note, I am thrilled to report that all members of the Sub-Committee conducted themselves admirably, remaining respectful of differing opinions, and ensuring the process was a true collaboration. I thank them again for their service to the CSA.
We have also continued our conversations and brainstorming with many industry members, and remain thrilled to see that industry involvement and engagement are extremely high. We welcome new and continued involvement and participation from all industry members and consumer groups in the different activities of the CSA.
Turning to some specific topics of particular import:
CSA Event
A very frequent topic of inquiry is when the next official CSA meeting will take place. Planning is, in fact underway, and we are trying to sort out some logistical matters, including location and venue(s). With the last meeting having taken place in Prague, we are leaning towards a U.S. location for the next event. We are aware of, and sensitive to all participants’ need to plan and prepare in advance, and so we are aiming to finalize the details as soon as possible. We can advise that, at this time, we are looking at June 14 through 16 as the likely dates. We hope to announce final dates/location/details within the next week or two.
Early Supporters
We wish to welcome those new Early Supporters that have joined over the past couple of months, and again thank all of our Early Supporters for their continued support and willingness to get involved. Very soon we will be announcing some calls and programs whose participation will be limited to Early Supporters (in addition to Sub-Committee and Pilot Program eligibility). To get more information about the Early Supporter Program please visit: http://www.cs-alliance.org/#!early-supporters/fupp2, or feel free to submit any question you have by email to: info@cs-alliance.org.
CSA as Facilitator of Cross-Industry Communication
From its inception, the CSA has stood for increased communication by and among industry members with the belief that facilitating and increasing the flow of communications between and among industry members will improve the overall ecosystem (and, in so doing, saving time and resources for all parties involved). In furtherance of this goal, we will soon roll out a liaison service to assist in bringing specific industry members together, upon request (again, directly or if/when necessary, with the CSA itself as an intermediary). We will publish details once this service becomes operational, likely after a test with Early Supporters.
Feedback and Involvement
Finally, we encourage you to stay involved and to continually channel your feedback to CSA via the website (www.cs-alliance.org) or via email at info@cs-alliance.org.
Sincerely, Adam Agensky CEO, Clean Software Alliance