This document discusses a project to compile oral histories from early contributors to free/libre/open-source software (FLOSS) in Japan. It aims to preserve information from the late 1980s to early 2000s, which is not well-archived online. Researchers interviewed engineers involved with Linux, BSD, and other FLOSS projects in Japan to understand differences in their communities' growth and uncover impacts of past projects. Preliminary findings provided new insights into Linux and BSD trends and the influence of a failed 1990s project. The interim report outlines initial results and plans for additional interviews.

1. The FLOSS History in Japan:
An Ethnographic Approach
OpenSym2015
Jun Iio, Chuo University
Masayuki Hatta, Surugadai University
Ko Kazaana, Cyboze Inc.

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Background
●
'The FLOSS stories in Japan' project
– started in the late 2013
– Objectives:
●
to compile oral histories on the free/libre/open-
source software (FLOSS) into a record
●
The year 2013 is the memorial year
– 30th
anniversary of the foundation of Japan
Unix Society (JUS)
– 20th
anniversary of the programming language
Ruby, which was created by Hiroyuki Matz

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The FLOSS history project
●
Problem:
– engineers engaged in the early development in
the FLOSS field in Japan are getting older.
– we don't have enough information between
the late 1980s and the early 2000s, in
comparison with recent information archived in
the Internet.
●
Our mission:
– to keep records on the dark era by interviews
with elderly engineers and researchers
working on FLOSS in Japan.

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Similar Projects
●
Kilnam et al., “Korean Internet History
Project”
●
“The Internet History Project”
– http://www.nethistory.com/
●
J. Ryan, “A History of the Internet and the
Digital Future”
●
R. H. Zakon, “Hobbes' internet timeline”
●
Japan Network Information Center, “The
History of the Internet in Japan”

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Methodology of the survey
1. Important technologies which were
developed intensively by Japanese OSS
communities in the 90s were listed.
2. In each category, several key persons
were nominated as candidate for
interviewee.
3. After the interviews, two or three hours of
interview minutes are typed out. The
analyze of these records reveals the
history of the OSS activities in the 90s.

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Key persons

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Some findings
●
Trends of 90s’ Linux and BSD (in Japan)
– from several interviews with engineers from
BSD side and Linux side
– interviews made clear the differences between
the growth of Linux community and *BSD
(Free/Net/OpenBSD) community
– Linux community:
●
lead by engineers in IT industries
●
a kind of “grass-roots-basis” growth
– BSD community:
●
lead by researchers and traditional Unix engineers

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Some findings (cont'd)
●
A hidden impact of “Sigma Project”
– Sigma project has been considered failed.
– However, the project fostered a lot of
engineers and researchers in the FLOSS field.
– GWM:
●
Window Manager
– Wnn:
●
Japanese character input method engine
– GWM and Wnn were supported by some grant
from Sigma Project

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Conclusions
●
The interim report of the project is
presented.
– Several findings which had not yet unveiled
previously were disclosed from our survey.
●
The project does not only focus on the
FLOSS operating systems.
– Currently, the project members are collecting
oral histories from key persons who are
actively commit- ting their efforts in Japanese
communities of several major FLOSS projects.
●
Additional interviews have to be conducted
as the future work.