Free and open source software (FOSS) project communities continue to grow and thrive. When such projects reach a certain critical point in their growth, corporations express interest in participating. Corporations have more stringent and robust software intellectual property (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. This presentation reviews how such neutral non-profit organizations have grown to meet the evolving legal, business, and technical needs of FOSS communities and businesses.

1. The
Rise
and
Evolu0on
of
the
Open
Source
So8ware
Founda0on
EOLA
2012
Stephen
R.
Walli
October
2012

2. The
Thesis
FOSS
Founda9ons
are
essen9al
to
enabling
the
growth
of
FOSS
Projects
when
companies
want
to
par9cipate,
contribute
and
adopt.

3. Two
Ra0os
~20
LoC/day
1
bug
:
1000
LoC

4. So8ware
Economics
We
have
shared
soIware
since
we
wrote
it.
Liberally-­‐licensed
collabora9vely
developed
soIware
is
the
best
re-­‐use
strategy.
“Plagiarism”
in
soIware
is
good
and
indeed
necessary.

5. The
Economics
of
Shared
Development

6. The
Economics
of
Companies
Collabora0ng

7. Founda0ons
as
IP
Management
Machines
• This
is
the
history
of
the
FSF,
the
ASF,
the
OSDL/Linux
Founda9on,
and
the
Eclipse
Founda9on
• Regardless
of
what
each
founda9on
represents
to
its
members
and
cons9tuencies,
what
they
“do”
is
IP
management.

8. Henrik
Ingo’s
Observa0ons
Henrik
Ingo
determined
that
the
9
largest
most
vibrant
projects
are
governed
independently
by
founda9ons
(hWp://bit.ly/f3O34M)
The
tenth
largest
(is
company
supported)
is
an
order
of
magnitude
smaller

9. Neutrality
and
Ownership
“There
appears
to
be
a
glass
ceiling
for
single
vendor
projects
prohibi9ng
their
growth
from
the
Large
category
upwards.
”
—
Henrik
Ingo

10. What
is
a
FOSS
Founda0on?
Founda9ons
are
non-­‐profits*
that
provide:
Legal
Structure
Business
Opera9ons
Technical
Services
*
But
they
are
s9ll
businesses

11. Founda0ons
*
But
they
are
s9ll
businesses

12. Corporate
Projects

13. Corporate
Projects
?????
?????

14. Why
does
it
maKer?
Neutrality
encourages
contribu9on
Clean
IP
encourages
adop9on
Founda9ons
act
as
community
centre-­‐of-­‐gravity

15. Neutrality
Encourages
Contribu0on
(Inbound)

16. Neutrality
and
Ownership
• Successful
Projects
Grow
and
Evolve
un9l
…
– Apache
SoIware
Founda9on
– OSDL/Linux
Founda9on
– Eclipse
Founda9on

17. Clean
IP
Encourages
Adop0on
(Outbound)

18. Legal
Structures
are
Important
• License
(inbound/outbound)
• Assignments
and
Contribu9on
Licenses
• Provenance
tracking
• Liability
and
risk
management
• CommiWer
indemnifica9on

19. Founda0on
as
Community
Centre-­‐of-­‐Gravity

20. Crea0ng
Strong
Communi0es
• Support
an
Architecture
of
Par9cipa9on
• Make
it
easy
to
join
the
conversa9on
• Support
and
grow
commiWers
• Support
lines
of
communica9ons
• Provide
technical
services
+
infrastructure
(forges,
code
signing,
etc.)

21. Conclusions
While
liberally
licensed
shared
collabora9ve
soIware
development
may
represent
the
best
soIware
re-­‐use
strategy
invented,
FOSS
Founda9ons
are
essen9al
to
the
par9cipa9on
of
companies
that
can
grow
and
sustain
FOSS
projects
and
their
communi9esn
long
term

22. Ques0ons?
Stephen
R.
Walli
Technical
Director,
Outercurve
Founda9on
hWp://www.outercurve.org
swalli@outercurve.org
hWp://stephesblog.blogs.com
(Once
More
unto
the
Breach)
hWp://www.networkworld.com/community/walli
@stephenrwalli