On Sun, Nov 8, 2009 at 7:50 AM, Emanuel Rumpf <xbran(a)web.de> wrote: I don't recall you being involved in the GMPI process. I was, and so was Jeff (and others include Steve Harris). The final outcome of the organized attempt to define and implement GMPI was not terribly satisfactory, but that was partly because the people who put the most time into the process (including Jeff) were unhappy about MMA's attempt to control the rest of the process. Imagining that GMPI was some kind of corporate shill attempt at a plugin standard is completely wrong. It was designed by FLOSS-friendly developers, with the intent on their part that it would remain that way. The fact that the MMA wasn't willing to play ball with that idea was what helped kill it - we had actually reached a final specification. the MMA does not own that spec. Jeff has continued to refine it via experience .. that doesn't necessarily mean that its a viable plugin API at this point, but you could at least be a bit more informed about its history before denouncing as non-FLOSS-ish ...