The new Open Group now says it might not appoint anyone as a permanent replacement for acting president and chief executive Jim Bell until the end of the year because most of the candidates came with too much baggage. It doesn’t expect the Open Software Foundation and X/Open Co Ltd to go away as legal entities any time soon either, although Open Group regards itself as a $60m-a-year concern with 240 staff. Consolidation of the Foundation and X/Open marketing groups is expected to be completed by July, and it claims that the merger has trimmed only $500,000 from membership contributions from the companies that were formerly sponsors of both organizations.
