Picking fights with giants...

A while ago I picked a fight with Ex Libris, mainly about their EL Commons, mainly on two points (although I'd hoped they'd be moot points now):

1) "I don't think it's appropriate for Ex Libris to promote "El Commons" as part of an "Open-Platform Strategy" though - I think you should promote it as a service to the "Ex Libris community". There's a big difference between the two, and I believe Ex Libris are mis-using the word "open" in this context."

2) I'd "expect that there would be a system where developers, would be able to at least view other developer contributions and either:
- submit details about resources for which they would like Ex Libris to provide adaptors
- provide plugin documentation to create suitable adaptors themselves (if they have "Documentation Center log in details")"

This was following on from an October 2008 post on a Talis blog [ http://blogs.talis.com/panlibus/archives/2008/10/come-on-in-its-open-with-your-ex-libris-key.php ], which ended on the note that:

Well El Commons is up running and accessible at http://www.exlibrisgroup.org. Unfortunately as Oren hinted, you can only enter the commons with your Ex Libris Documentation Center or SupportWeb user name and password – a bit of a misuse of the generally understood idea behind a commons methinks.

What I didn't manage to convey in the last email I sent, (partly because I got bored with them not biting back, and never finished my very last email), was the fact that I thought Ex Libris was overlooking another important information resource - Librarian-developed/enhanced resources.

[more about this later...]