[OpenID board] pay-to-play an issue?

[Dick Hardt]

I was reflecting on David's comments about having board membership  
having  a pay-to-play aspect.

If the Foundation controlled the specifications, I would be very  
aligned with David on NOT having it pay to play -- but given the  
charter of protecting IP and marketing -- essentially those paying  
are those that have chosen to pool their marketing dollars, and  
coordinate their efforts -- so it makes sense for those people to  
participate in how those dollars are spent -- so it is a pay-to- 
market issue.

With Apache, there is a clear marketing advantage to being listed  
with Apache given their history and they essentially are selling pay- 
to-market with a clear path on how marketing is done, and it is for  
exposure of the company to the Apache community. Apache does not need  
to do much marketing themselves these days -- where as OpenID does  
need to get some clear messages out there, and so a pay-to-market  
model for people to come on board makes tons of sense to me -- and  
clearly is the model some people are looking for given some  
conversations with some of the players.

More on the call later today of course!

-- Dick