"True Stories from Open Source" by Danese Cooper @ eLiberatica 2009

True Stories from Open Source Danese Cooper eLiberatica Bucharest, 23 May 2009

What is Open Source? As deﬁned at www.opensource.org: Binaries + Source Code distributed together under an OSD-compliant license  Freely modiﬁable  Freely redistributable  Freely forkable  Non-discriminatory = anyone can play  Non-revokable = code must remain open © 2009 Danese Cooper, Contact: danese@opensource.org Slide

What is OSI? A non-profit organization providing leadership for the Open Source movement, through…  Bridge-building  Leadership  Spokesmanship © 2009 Danese Cooper, Contact: danese@opensource.org Slide Bridge-Building: Most generally, OSI's job is to build bridges between the hacker culture and the mainstream, to educate the people who meet on those bridges, and to assist them in building bonds of practice and trust that can enable both groups to benefit from sustained cooperation. Leadership: Inseparable from the job of bridge-building is one of community leadership. To represent our community to the mainstream, we must both hold the trust of our community and be seen to hold that trust. We earn that trust by being effective wise(wo)men and influence leaders, helping the community find direction and response to challenges as they arise. Spokesmanship: Our community expects and requires of us that we will not only lead on the tough issues, but that we will use our visibility and credibility to give the open-source community an effective voice in the larger world. The most obvious mode of bridge-building has been our maintainance of the OSD and certification of open-source licenses. Since we took on this job in 1998, we have developed an enviable reputation as honest brokers between the corporate world and the hackers, trusted by both sides to maintain the social contract that supports their cooperation to the tune of billions of dollars of money and labor exchanged every year. We have successfully led the community response to several serious crises, including Microsoft's attempts to discredit the GPL in 2001-2002 and the SCO lawsuit in 2003. We have also done remarkably well in the area of spokesmanship, establishing OSI as an upright and respectable “good-guy” organization which almost invariably garners favorable media coverage. These are achievements about which all present and former members of OSI can feel justly proud. Very few advocacy organizations with barely six years of history have ever achieved as much. However, in considering OSI's mission, it is important that we not confuse tactics with strategy or means with ends. License certification, important as it is, is a means not an end. So is successful PR. These tactics were not the entirety of OSI's founding mission, nor do they encompass all of our responsibilities today. Very concretely, these tactics would not include projects like the Open Source Awards which are clearly within the scope of OSI's charter objectives. The discussion of roles and responsibilities in the remainder of this document, therefore, should not be read in light of a narrow set of specific objectives such as license certification or the OSAs. Rather, they should be read as operating procedures for an organization with a very general mission of bridge-building, leadership, and spokesmanship.

Cool, but does anybody actually USE it?

Government Adoption Bristol, England switches to StarOffice Kerala, India goes Open Source Brasil loves Linux! Malaysian “Master Plan” for Open Source © 2009 Danese Cooper, Contact: danese@opensource.org Slide 1978 - Bill Joy ships 1BSD 1983 - Richard Stallman writes GNU Manifesto 1991 - Linus Torvalds starts Linux project 1995 - Brian Behlendorf starts Apache project 1997 - Bruce Perens’ Open Source Definition 1998 - Netscape creates Mozilla project. - Tim O’Reilly hosts meeting where term “Open Source” is coined 1999 - Open Source Certification mark launched by OSI

RedHat Map © 2009 Danese Cooper, Contact: danese@opensource.org Slide 1978 - Bill Joy ships 1BSD 1983 - Richard Stallman writes GNU Manifesto 1991 - Linus Torvalds starts Linux project 1995 - Brian Behlendorf starts Apache project 1997 - Bruce Perens’ Open Source Deﬁnition 1998 - Netscape creates Mozilla project. - Tim O’Reilly hosts meeting where term “Open Source” is coined 1999 - Open Source Certiﬁcation mark launched by OSI

Its a Small World Afterall © 2009 Danese Cooper, Contact: danese@opensource.org Slide 1978 - Bill Joy ships 1BSD 1983 - Richard Stallman writes GNU Manifesto 1991 - Linus Torvalds starts Linux project 1995 - Brian Behlendorf starts Apache project 1997 - Bruce Perens’ Open Source Deﬁnition 1998 - Netscape creates Mozilla project. - Tim O’Reilly hosts meeting where term “Open Source” is coined 1999 - Open Source Certiﬁcation mark launched by OSI

Happiest Place On Earth © 2009 Danese Cooper, Contact: danese@opensource.org Slide 1978 - Bill Joy ships 1BSD 1983 - Richard Stallman writes GNU Manifesto 1991 - Linus Torvalds starts Linux project 1995 - Brian Behlendorf starts Apache project 1997 - Bruce Perens’ Open Source Deﬁnition 1998 - Netscape creates Mozilla project. - Tim O’Reilly hosts meeting where term “Open Source” is coined 1999 - Open Source Certiﬁcation mark launched by OSI

But is it Sustainable? © 2009 Danese Cooper, Contact: danese@opensource.org Slide 1978 - Bill Joy ships 1BSD 1983 - Richard Stallman writes GNU Manifesto 1991 - Linus Torvalds starts Linux project 1995 - Brian Behlendorf starts Apache project 1997 - Bruce Perens’ Open Source Deﬁnition 1998 - Netscape creates Mozilla project. - Tim O’Reilly hosts meeting where term “Open Source” is coined 1999 - Open Source Certiﬁcation mark launched by OSI

...or a Ship of Fools? © 2009 Danese Cooper, Contact: danese@opensource.org Slide 1978 - Bill Joy ships 1BSD 1983 - Richard Stallman writes GNU Manifesto 1991 - Linus Torvalds starts Linux project 1995 - Brian Behlendorf starts Apache project 1997 - Bruce Perens’ Open Source Deﬁnition 1998 - Netscape creates Mozilla project. - Tim O’Reilly hosts meeting where term “Open Source” is coined 1999 - Open Source Certiﬁcation mark launched by OSI

Back to Governments... © 2009 Danese Cooper, Contact: danese@opensource.org Slide 1978 - Bill Joy ships 1BSD 1983 - Richard Stallman writes GNU Manifesto 1991 - Linus Torvalds starts Linux project 1995 - Brian Behlendorf starts Apache project 1997 - Bruce Perens’ Open Source Deﬁnition 1998 - Netscape creates Mozilla project. - Tim O’Reilly hosts meeting where term “Open Source” is coined 1999 - Open Source Certiﬁcation mark launched by OSI

Bristol: value for money © 2009 Danese Cooper, Contact: danese@opensource.org Slide 1978 - Bill Joy ships 1BSD 1983 - Richard Stallman writes GNU Manifesto 1991 - Linus Torvalds starts Linux project 1995 - Brian Behlendorf starts Apache project 1997 - Bruce Perens’ Open Source Deﬁnition 1998 - Netscape creates Mozilla project. - Tim O’Reilly hosts meeting where term “Open Source” is coined 1999 - Open Source Certiﬁcation mark launched by OSI

Kerala: total commitment © 2009 Danese Cooper, Contact: danese@opensource.org Slide 1978 - Bill Joy ships 1BSD 1983 - Richard Stallman writes GNU Manifesto 1991 - Linus Torvalds starts Linux project 1995 - Brian Behlendorf starts Apache project 1997 - Bruce Perens’ Open Source Deﬁnition 1998 - Netscape creates Mozilla project. - Tim O’Reilly hosts meeting where term “Open Source” is coined 1999 - Open Source Certiﬁcation mark launched by OSI

Malaysia: persistence © 2009 Danese Cooper, Contact: danese@opensource.org Slide 1978 - Bill Joy ships 1BSD 1983 - Richard Stallman writes GNU Manifesto 1991 - Linus Torvalds starts Linux project 1995 - Brian Behlendorf starts Apache project 1997 - Bruce Perens’ Open Source Deﬁnition 1998 - Netscape creates Mozilla project. - Tim O’Reilly hosts meeting where term “Open Source” is coined 1999 - Open Source Certiﬁcation mark launched by OSI

Brasil: national pride © 2009 Danese Cooper, Contact: danese@opensource.org Slide 1978 - Bill Joy ships 1BSD 1983 - Richard Stallman writes GNU Manifesto 1991 - Linus Torvalds starts Linux project 1995 - Brian Behlendorf starts Apache project 1997 - Bruce Perens’ Open Source Deﬁnition 1998 - Netscape creates Mozilla project. - Tim O’Reilly hosts meeting where term “Open Source” is coined 1999 - Open Source Certiﬁcation mark launched by OSI

So you want to adopt open source? © 2009 Danese Cooper, Contact: danese@opensource.org Slide 1978 - Bill Joy ships 1BSD 1983 - Richard Stallman writes GNU Manifesto 1991 - Linus Torvalds starts Linux project 1995 - Brian Behlendorf starts Apache project 1997 - Bruce Perens’ Open Source Deﬁnition 1998 - Netscape creates Mozilla project. - Tim O’Reilly hosts meeting where term “Open Source” is coined 1999 - Open Source Certiﬁcation mark launched by OSI

Five Stages of Adoption © 2009 Danese Cooper, Contact: danese@opensource.org Slide 1978 - Bill Joy ships 1BSD 1983 - Richard Stallman writes GNU Manifesto 1991 - Linus Torvalds starts Linux project 1995 - Brian Behlendorf starts Apache project 1997 - Bruce Perens’ Open Source Deﬁnition 1998 - Netscape creates Mozilla project. - Tim O’Reilly hosts meeting where term “Open Source” is coined 1999 - Open Source Certiﬁcation mark launched by OSI

What is Open Source Methodology?  Use an OSI-approved license  Document every decision / action  Use simple and available tools  Reward merit with increased responsibility  Work transparently  Encourage contribution © 2009 Danese Cooper, Contact: danese@opensource.org Slide  All decisions are made or at least memorialized on mail lists which are publicly archived and searchable. -new participants learn the project by researching the archive  Toolset is simple and also open sourced, which removes barriers to participation -typical tools include CVS, BugZilla, mail lists,  Increased responsibility is a reward for merit -Commit access is granted only after individual has submitted worthy code to project for some period of time.  All bugs are public -Security, encryption and other “controversial” issues are vetted in public under belief that peer review yields better code than secrecy.  One codebase -Barring community from earning commit access indicates lack of trust

Is Open Source Anarchy?  In fact only those with reputation can commit code  Massive peer review = more QA staff than you can hire  Massive peer review also promotes higher quality check-ins  Published roadmaps and acceptance criteria guide community expectation © 2009 Danese Cooper, Contact: danese@opensource.org Slide  Loose lips donʼt sink ships anymore

Open Source Companies © 2009 Danese Cooper, Contact: danese@opensource.org Slide  All decisions are made or at least memorialized on mail lists which are publicly archived and searchable. -new participants learn the project by researching the archive  Toolset is simple and also open sourced, which removes barriers to participation -typical tools include CVS, BugZilla, mail lists,  Increased responsibility is a reward for merit -Commit access is granted only after individual has submitted worthy code to project for some period of time.  All bugs are public -Security, encryption and other “controversial” issues are vetted in public under belief that peer review yields better code than secrecy.  One codebase -Barring community from earning commit access indicates lack of trust

Open Source Companies ? ? ? © 2009 Danese Cooper, Contact: danese@opensource.org Slide  All decisions are made or at least memorialized on mail lists which are publicly archived and searchable. -new participants learn the project by researching the archive  Toolset is simple and also open sourced, which removes barriers to participation -typical tools include CVS, BugZilla, mail lists,  Increased responsibility is a reward for merit -Commit access is granted only after individual has submitted worthy code to project for some period of time.  All bugs are public -Security, encryption and other “controversial” issues are vetted in public under belief that peer review yields better code than secrecy.  One codebase -Barring community from earning commit access indicates lack of trust

Open Standards? © 2009 Danese Cooper, Contact: danese@opensource.org Slide  All decisions are made or at least memorialized on mail lists which are publicly archived and searchable. -new participants learn the project by researching the archive  Toolset is simple and also open sourced, which removes barriers to participation -typical tools include CVS, BugZilla, mail lists,  Increased responsibility is a reward for merit -Commit access is granted only after individual has submitted worthy code to project for some period of time.  All bugs are public -Security, encryption and other “controversial” issues are vetted in public under belief that peer review yields better code than secrecy.  One codebase -Barring community from earning commit access indicates lack of trust

Open Standards?  Not defined  40 years of baggage  Way too much wiggle room for companies  Standards should be “Open-Source Implementable” © 2009 Danese Cooper, Contact: danese@opensource.org Slide  All decisions are made or at least memorialized on mail lists which are publicly archived and searchable. -new participants learn the project by researching the archive  Toolset is simple and also open sourced, which removes barriers to participation -typical tools include CVS, BugZilla, mail lists,  Increased responsibility is a reward for merit -Commit access is granted only after individual has submitted worthy code to project for some period of time.  All bugs are public -Security, encryption and other “controversial” issues are vetted in public under belief that peer review yields better code than secrecy.  One codebase -Barring community from earning commit access indicates lack of trust

Summary  Open Source is a Global Phenomenon  Open Source is a recognized skill set  Open Source is increasingly a core competency for companies, governments  Not all “Open” is equivalent © 2009 Danese Cooper, Contact: danese@opensource.org Slide  All decisions are made or at least memorialized on mail lists which are publicly archived and searchable. -new participants learn the project by researching the archive  Toolset is simple and also open sourced, which removes barriers to participation -typical tools include CVS, BugZilla, mail lists,  Increased responsibility is a reward for merit -Commit access is granted only after individual has submitted worthy code to project for some period of time.  All bugs are public -Security, encryption and other “controversial” issues are vetted in public under belief that peer review yields better code than secrecy.  One codebase -Barring community from earning commit access indicates lack of trust

Sources  Bristol http://www.opensourceacademy.gov.uk/news_and_events/ press_releases/article/bristol-switches-to-starofﬁce/  Kerala http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-152441.html  Malaysia http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4602325.stm  Data Map http://ﬂowingdata.com/2009/04/30/is-your-country- involved-in-open-source/  5 Stages http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10246722-16.html? part=rss&tag=feed&subj=TheOpenRoad  Hungarian Procurement http://www.osor.eu/news/hu- procurement-continues-to-puzzle-open-source-companies © 2009 Danese Cooper, Contact: danese@opensource.org Slide

See you at www.opensource.org danese@opensource.org

"True Stories from Open Source" by Danese Cooper @ eLiberatica 2009

0 comments

Notes on slide 1

Favorites, Groups & Events