from here to there: how foss has changed in the last five years

From Here To There: How FOSS has changed in the last five

years, and where it is going next

Shane Martin Coughlan

Five Years Ago...

FOSS was new and exciting

It was driving emerging companies like Google

It was transforming server and embedded markets

Today...

FOSS drives an economy worth 50 billion dollars

FOSS is present in every sector

FOSS is mainstream, trusted, required

An Evolutionary Process

We got from A to B through learning

FOSS development adapted

FOSS approaches evolved

Ups And Downs

There were challenges along the way

Some about community management

Some about legal boundaries

From Hacker To Contributor

FOSS used to be developed for fun

That is still true for some

But today the majority of code is corporate funded

From Guidelines To Rules

FOSS licenses were more of a manifesto

Licenses were rules of last resort for hacking

Now they manage fairness in a 50 billion economy

Different Times, Different Worries

We used to worry about copyright

Now we worry more about patents, broader IPR

We fret about the supply chain too

Early Governance

It was all about the licenses

There was a narrow focus on compliance

Some Early Cases

GPL-violations.org vs Sitecom

GPL-violations.org vs D-Link

SFLC vs 14 companies

Modern Governance

Honor obligations in procurement and deployment

Maximize value throughout the product life-cycle

The Core Remains The Same

Changes have been about how to do FOSS

Not about what FOSS is

We still use, study, share and improve code

Expectations Are A Constant

Stakeholders are expected to contribute

Stakeholders are expected to follow the rules

Stakeholders are expected to play nice

The More Things Change…

Big picture, we are growing up

We used to deal with individual challenges

Now we address many interconnected challenges

Dealing With Variables

In development: investment, returns, lead time

In legal issues: IPR, risk, exposure

In business: putting it all together

Pulling Back

FOSS is not about code

FOSS is not about licenses

The Big Picture

Software is a knowledge product

FOSS is a management approach for this product

25 Years To See The Obvious

It took a while to work that out

FOSS is not people, code or apps

It is a method for collaborative creativity

The Nutshell

FOSS leverages software further than other approaches

Remember: use, study, share and improve

Other approaches maybe give you 25% to 50%

The Strategy Objective

Use FOSS flexibility to get a sustained advantage

Natural Progression

Collaboration is key

We need to collaborate effectively

Looping Around

We are back to platforms

FOSS as an approach is great at platforms

It saves money, increases innovation, provides adaptability

Platform Management

Managers, programmers and legal experts need to collaborate across organizations and borders

Crowd-Sourcing

In essence, FOSS allows third parties to work together

These combined minds are better are refining creations

And that leads to better solutions

Challenges Ahead

The benefits of FOSS are also a weakness

Breakdowns in collaboration reduce the potential

This is the biggest challenge moving forward

Details Concealing A Big Problem

FOSS is still pretty vulnerable to inter-party conflict

This could be between FOSS stakeholders or third parties

It could be using copyright, patents or other measures

Improving Governance, Reducing Risk

Governance is more than about licenses or law

It is about the end-to-end process of dealing with code

The better the governance, the less the risk

The Correct Path

FOSS Governance is already pretty good

FOSS life-cycle management is maturing

Methods of dealing with the supply chain are appearing

A Future Of Refinement

The next five years will see a refinement of governance

More information will be standardized

The baseline of quality will improve

Do Not Get Carried Away

We are not there yet

There is tremendous advantage in FOSS

But there is still a systemic challenge to overcome

Next Steps

Standards

Shared knowledge

Common practices

And Then...

We get this right, we get more value

Simple, really

Contact details

[email protected]

www.opendawn.com