Companies are CommunityManaging Trust in mixed commercial and volunteer

communities

Open Source Forum @ Cebit 2012Mirko Boehm (mirko@kde.org)

1Saturday, March 10, 12

Free Software can be commercial.

So what is the problem?

2Saturday, March 10, 12

CWD: ~miroslav@silberpfeil: >whoami

- KDE Contributor since 1997:-- Hacking (kdecore, kdepim, applications)-- board member 1999 to 2006-- Desktop Summit 2011- FSFE Germany team member- researching Free Software and Intellectual Property issues at TU Berlin- married, two kids, lives in BerlinCWD: ~miroslav@silberpfeil: >

3Saturday, March 10, 12

Potential points of conflict

• Crowding out

• Attribution for commercial use

• Viability of the community

• Embedded knowledge

• Copyright, trademark issues

4Saturday, March 10, 12

The constitution of KDE5Saturday, March 10, 12

Community

• Meritocracy of all those who contribute

• Self-directed

• All doors open approach

• (S)He who does the work decides

6Saturday, March 10, 12

KDE e.V.

• Stakeholder’s association of contributors

• Only individual membership, no entities

• Invite-only membership

• Passive, supporting membership models

7Saturday, March 10, 12

Fair Collaboration

What would that be?

8Saturday, March 10, 12

• Influence development

• Be part of the community, collaborate

• Exercise the Four Freedoms

• Benefit from own contributions

• ?Appropriate the results?

• ?Build IP?

Rights

9Saturday, March 10, 12

Responsibilities

• Be open about goals

• Be transparent about activities

• Be committed longer-term

• Be generous

• Be humble

10Saturday, March 10, 12

Decision Making

• One member, one vote

• One commit, one vote

• One $€¥£, one vote

All of these have been observed in the wild.

11Saturday, March 10, 12

Learn and Adapt12Saturday, March 10, 12

Der eingetragene Verein

• Formalizes idea of communities working on a common goal

• Stakeholders equivalent of shareholders association

• Supports continuity

• Leaves project in the hands of the community

• Tendency to make it a lot more complicated than it is :-)

13Saturday, March 10, 12

Good

14Saturday, March 10, 12

Good

KDE e.V.’s constitution guarantees that KDE remains independent. KDE is one of very few prototypical Free Software communities with little external influence.

15Saturday, March 10, 12

Bad

16Saturday, March 10, 12

Bad

KDE e.V.’s constitution guarantees that KDE remains independent. KDE is one of very few prototypical Free Software communities with little external influence.

17Saturday, March 10, 12

Maybe together?18Saturday, March 10, 12

KDE in 2012 ...and beyond

• Revisit KDE’s structured value proposition for corporate contributors.

• Pro-actively leverage synergies to exploit ecosystem dynamics.

• Apply cascading platform game plan to increase utility on a macro-economic and political scale.

This result-driven strategy will put KDE on the fast track to global market penetration.

19Saturday, March 10, 12

KDE in 2012 ...and beyond

• Ok, let’s do that again...

20Saturday, March 10, 12

KDE in 2012 ...and beyond

• Establish an easy way for interested companies to become part of the KDE community.

• Allow companies to promote their interest in the project.

• Equal footing, no preferential treatment of volunteers or companies.

New KDE corporate contributor program

to be announced later this year.

21Saturday, March 10, 12

Thank you!Questions?

22Saturday, March 10, 12

Referenceshttp://www.flickr.com/photos/thinkfat/4759419053

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justitia

23Saturday, March 10, 12