Whither Castle ITIL in 2011?

It is getting so as we have to talk about the current state of the ownership of ITIL, and where that might be heading

In the latest Skeptical Informer I said "Whither ITIL in 2011?" but I only answered the question in terms of ITIL the content not ITIL the movement, and especially not in terms of the future of Castle ITIL, the ITIL power base. The reason was because I am stalling, waiting to see. But people want to know and OGC sure as hell aren't telling the peasants anything. The village is alive with rumours and concerns, but the Castle are too busy playing politics at court to give a flying fox what happens with the actual ITIL community.

Just today a journalist asked me

First: The UK Government Licensing Framework (UKGLF). And second: the
contracts of APMG and TSO have been extended by OGC.
If I combine that: does this mean that ITIL will not be freed?
Does it mean anything that it is not extended for as long as it could have been?

I think APMG and TSO do a good job of what they're supposed to do. I have plenty of criticism of them but if I was a for-profit company given the powers they have I'm not sure I'd be that much different. No surprise that OGC are renewing. What really steams me up is OGC's governance not APMG/TSO's practices. Well both maybe :)

I think the two-year thing has zero to do with TSO's or APMGs' performance and everything to do with uncertainty about OGC's future. There is a quiet revolution going on within the British Government right now. And it might just have handed the ITIL community an open licence for ITIL: the UKGLF. But not yet. Nobody is saying anything, least of all saying something informative to the public community that uses ITIL or that makes a living from ITIL. I have confirmation from the National Archives (controllers of British Government copyright now it seems) that nothing has changed with regards to OGC licensing of copyright material.

So the question is, why not? How can OGC be part of the Cabinet Office and yet continue to fly in the face of both the spirit and the letter of the UKGLF?

It could be that there is a grand power struggle going on within the Cabinet Office as the National Archives tries to lever OGC's claws off of ITIL. Or it could be that OGC are keeping head down and mouth shut while others get on with more pressing issues. In either case I believe it is up to we the ITIL community to have our say in this. Since nobody is providing us a platform to have that say - certainly not itSMF who are clearly too busy kissing various OGC orifi to speak up - we have to make our own platform. Let's call for ITIL to be released under the UKGLF!

I would have liked to create an official British Government petition, but in true BritGovt fashion, they have shut down the old online petition system in anticipation of a new one later this year. That should buy them some peace and quiet for a year.

Second choice was to host the petition here on this website. So welcome to the Free ITIL® Movement - please join in.