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When FOSS project communities reach a certain critical point in their growth, corporations express interest in participating. Corporations have more stringent and robust software IP management needs, however, and projects are not always up to the task. Neutral non-profit FOSS foundations have proved to be a solution to these problems, providing for the IP management needs of corporations while offering additional business and technical services to the project communities to encourage further growth and adoption. (Conference Details: http://www.socallinuxexpo.org/scale11x/presentations/evolution-open-source-software-foundation)
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The Evolu*on of the Open Source So3ware Founda*on
SCaLE11x Stephen R. Walli February 2013
The Thesis
FOSS Founda:ons are essen:al to enabling the growth of FOSS Projects when companies want to par:cipate, contribute and adopt.
Two Ra*os
~20 LoC/day 1 bug : 1000 LoC
So3ware Economics
Wri:ng good soIware is hard work Re-‐use is everything
We have shared soIware since we wrote it. Liberally-‐licensed collabora:vely developed
soIware is the best re-‐use strategy.
The Economics of Shared Development
The Economics of Companies Collabora*ng
Founda*ons as IP Management Machines
• This is the history of the FSF, the ASF, the OSDL/Linux Founda:on, and the Eclipse Founda:on
• Regardless of what each founda:on represents to its members and cons:tuencies, what they “do” is IP management.
Henrik Ingo’s Observa*ons Henrik Ingo determined that the 9 largest most vibrant projects are governed independently by founda:ons (hXp://bit.ly/f3O34M) The tenth largest (is company supported) is an order of magnitude smaller
Neutrality and Ownership
“There appears to be a glass ceiling for single vendor projects prohibi:ng their growth from the Large category upwards. ” — Henrik Ingo
An Organic Project Life-‐Cycle
What is a FOSS Founda*on?
Founda:ons are non-‐profits* that provide: Legal Structure
Business Opera:ons Technical Services
* But they are s:ll businesses
Founda*ons
* But they are s:ll businesses
Corporate Projects
Corporate Projects
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Why does it maNer?
Neutrality encourages contribu:on Clean IP encourages adop:on
Founda:ons act as community centre-‐of-‐gravity
Neutrality Encourages Contribu*on (Inbound)
Neutrality and Ownership
• Successful Projects Grow and Evolve un:l … – Apache SoIware Founda:on – OSDL/Linux Founda:on – Eclipse Founda:on
Clean IP Encourages Adop*on (Outbound)
Legal Structures are Important
• License (inbound/outbound) • Assignments and Contribu:on Licenses • Provenance tracking • Liability and risk management • CommiXer indemnifica:on
Founda*on as Community Centre-‐of-‐Gravity
Crea*ng Strong Communi*es
• Support an Architecture of Par:cipa:on • Make it easy to join the conversa:on • Support and grow commiXers • Support lines of communica:ons • Provide technical services + infrastructure (forges, code signing, etc.)
Conclusions
While liberally licensed shared collabora:ve soIware development may represent the best soIware re-‐use strategy we have, FOSS Founda:ons are essen:al to the par:cipa:on of companies that can grow and sustain FOSS projects and their communi:esn long term
Ques*ons?
Stephen R. Walli Technical Director, Outercurve Founda:on
hXp://www.outercurve.org [email protected]
hXp://stephesblog.blogs.com (Once More unto the Breach) hXp://www.networkworld.com/community/walli
@stephenrwalli
