We at XWiki (http://www.xwiki.com and http://www.xwiki.org) would welcome and support any initiative to create additional certifications or labels for open source software.

We have seen too much variance between open source vendors in their involvement in Open Source and particularly over time. It’s easy to be commited to Open Source when you start and when you look for backing and support. But this commitment should be sustained over time.

Some business models of vendors lead to gradually less commitment to open source, while others show a strong commitment over time.

Many licences allow this (Double licences or very open licences), while others LGPL have great balance between freedom and long term commitment by all participants.

We believe at XWiki that we are very commited both in terms of business mode and in terms of licence (LGPL).

But indeed there is a lack of certification that actually makes it something visible to our community, users and clients. Many users don’t see the difference between a light commitment and a strong commitment, so how could they actually analyze if the vendors will “have to” commit over time or if it’s only be their own decision to continue their commitment to Open Source.

Labels that certify these commitments would be great !