Happy New Year

[Laurent M Liscia <laurent.liscia@oasis-open.org>]

Dear members,

You've made it possible for us to have another great year, even as uncertainty rises in the economy and our industry. Thank you for remaining loyal to OASIS, more loyal on average than members of most other standards organizations. We've happily and diligently rewarded your loyalty with better collaboration tools like Github, JIRA, and open repositories for artifacts other than standards; and increased our support for the latest and greatest groupware, from Google Docs to Slack - and more to come. Thank you as well for remaining patient as we transition towards an even more agile model, and changes in our team. We said farewell to Robin Cover, our in-house XML expert, and welcomed Jory Burson, who is helping develop our Open Projects initiative (OPs). Â

OPs are the answer to a global trend we've been tracking for years: the convergence of open standards and open source. After a flurry of Web-based activity up until 2015, the lion's share of open technologies has shifted to open source. My prediction, for what it's worth, is that cybersecurity, blockchain and AI will stoke the need for standards again after 2020. In the meantime standards will remain a preferred tool and _expression_ of government procurement, and we remain as strong as ever in that area. But the open standards to come will not be like those of old. They will reflect the universal need for rapid development and prompt solutions to pressing problems. OASIS Open Projects already allow open source efforts to move at whatever speed they wish, and create a path towards standardization for specific portions of code, under one intellectual property roof. Prospects have told us that this is an amazing sweet spot for open technologies. Expect to see Open Projects blossoming soon at OASIS.

But that's not all we're doing. We have the honor and privilege of being, along with ANSI, project administrators for the US Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to PC 317. Oh no, another obscure acronym. This one stands for: "ISO/PC 317, Consumer Protection: privacy by design for consumer goods and services." PC 317 will develop global guidelines to facilitate compliance with regulations and foster greater consumer trust. If you don't think privacy matters as an ethical and economic issue, you haven't been reading the news for a good long while.

Our job is to grow the US TAG and help it articulate its goals, for inclusion in the standard. This complements the fantastic privacy work we have in OASIS. It also brings companies like Amazon, Tesla, Starbucks, Uber and Apple to the table; companies that until now had shown very little interest in OASIS activities. And while they are not technically members of OASIS, like you; they are definitely our customers. Think of them as your OASIS cousins - and consider joining them as they craft global privacy policy.

OASIS is about to become a major player in open source and open standards, under a unified open technologies roof. Your support and encouragement, via the Board of Directors you elect, is what makes this important innovation possible. We are grateful to you for helping us implement the evolutionary answer to the drastic changes that have been brewing in our marketplace. Onto great things - together.

Happy New Year,

Laurent Â

-- 
Laurent Liscia, CEO
OASIS: Open source. Open standards.
https://oasis-open-projects.org/