Even though anyone is invited to contribute to Open Source projects, the development is usually driven by the big players of the industry (Intel, Red Hat, Linaro…). Trying to divert that development towards the interest of a Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) may look like an impossible task. From its foundation, Qtechnology ( http://qtec.com ) has Open Source engraved in its DNA. It is the foundation for all our products. In this presentation we will show: The challenges and rewards of more than two hundred patches upstreamed. The impact of those contributions to the Community and to our Company. What can be done, in our opinion, to encourage more contributions from SMEs.

1. 1
Can small companies
upstream?
The story of and Industrial Camera manufacturer.
Ricardo Ribalda, PhD
1

2. Small vs
BIG
2

3. Employees
33

4. Budget
4

5. Scope
Industrial Grade
5
Commercial Grade

6. Problem
6

7. 7
Starts easy

8. 8
Complicates...

9. 9
Complicates...

10. 10
Complicates...

11. 11
Light at the end of the tunnel….
Iván Alvarado / Reuters

12. 12
It works!

13. 13

14. 14

15. Benefits
15

16. Access to Developers
16

17. Reduce Maintership cost
17

18. Reduce Maintership cost
18

19. Training
19

20. Recruiting
20

21. Visibility
21

22. FREE HUGS Features!
22

23. Access to documentation
23

24. Influence in APIs
24

25. Drawbacks
25

26. 26

27. CONTRIBUTE!
27

28. Our experience
- Linux Kernel: 200+ patches. Including a 9+ year old bugfix.
- U-boot: 48 patches. Maintainers of Virtex PowerPC boards.
- Yocto project: 60+patches. Supporting organization of the project.
- v4l-utils/libv4l2: 10 patches.
- Gstreamer: 5 patches accepted.
- Coreboot: 6 patches accepted.
- Flashrom: Support for the first board with EEprom memory.
- Gerbil, Clpeak, Video Lan Client, neard...
28

29. 29
Can small companies
upstream?
The story of and Industrial Camera manufacturer.
Ricardo Ribalda, PhD
29