The document discusses the evolution and significance of Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) from its origins in the 1980s to its current impact on various sectors, including business and culture. It highlights the shifting focus from freedom to business logic, the rise of open source vendors, and the challenges and opportunities presented by modern software environments. It also emphasizes the imperative of maintaining control over software in light of privacy concerns and the importance of shared research and development.

1. Patrice Bertrand - CNLL

2. 30 = 15 x 2
84: GNU project started
85: Free Software Foundation
Free software driven by a craving for freedom
98: Open Source Initiative
Open Source software driven by business logic
14: FLOSS thriving everywhere,
with huge transformations far beyond IT

3. 1984: Free Software
Business is not the focus
It’s about freedom
It’s about taking control
It’s about sharing
And yet…

4. 1998: Aiming for enterprise IT
Open Source: Tone down the freedom bit
Put forward superior quality and control
Still fostering common software goods
Since then, business logic has been a major factor in the
making of FLOSS software, taking it to new heights
Although the discourses sometimes clashed,
the software was the same.
And while free & open source thrived everywhere,
both aims were being met.

5. Business models of the 90’s
In search of the right business model
1) Develop software,
because it’s fun, because there is a need
2) Release it as OSS
because it’s good, because it’s more useful this way,
because others can help out
3) Try to make a living
because otherwise it stops, it’s not useful

6. The rise of OSS vendors
The dominant model for startups in the 00’s
Complementing Foundations and Communities
Bringing FLOSS to new domains
Evolving new business models,
some based on a closed-source version
And yet…
a positive new driving force for FLOSS

7. « Our product is great
because it’s OSS »
« Our product is great;
OSS is irrelevant »
Market
share
Life of an open source
software vendor
open closed

8. Shared R&D
Most successful FLOSS business model
Companies assign staff to project
For each day given, get x100 value
They also receive:
A say in governance and roadmap
Full control of their software dependencies
Innovation from other brains
Sovereignty & security

9. Shared R&D
The best deal for enterprise IT
Cost effective,
with strategic benefits attached
Plus positive downfalls for all IT
But difficult to get started:
the key role of strong foundations

10. Who is driving IT ?
A major shift
80’s & 90’s: software vendors
software is a revenue,
must not be used freely
standards will allow competition
00’s & 10’s: larger software consumers
software is a cost,
the cheaper the better
standards are good

11. Floss keeps on
gaining new grounds
In the 90s, a better compiler, …
Now Floss is leading in almost all hot
fields: in servers, in networking, in
cloud infrastructures, in web platforms,
in content management, in Big Data,
in smartphones too, in embedded
systems, in development tools and
frameworks, … and gaining positions in
enterprise application layers and ERPs

12. The GLOBAL impact of FLOSS
Pervading IT,
Changing mindsets far beyond IT
Prompting major changes
on Society and Culture

13. FLOSS
Commoditization
Lower entry
barriers
Innovative
startups
Web Giants
Big Data
Shared R&D
Open Innovation
Open Hardware
Creative
Commons
Open Art
Open Movies
OpenStreetMap
Wikipedia
Open
Government
Open Knowledge
Open Access
Jobs
FabLabs
Competitivity
Open Data

14. 15 years of
FLOSS public policies
Overall, french governments have been
receptive with regards to free software
Though action has not always matched words
First impetus ~2000, with downfalls in terms of awareness
A glorious instant in 2005, with Michel Rocard leading the fight
against software patents at European Parliament
An important beacon in 2012, with the Prime Minister’s memo
on FLOSS
In 2013, a law that dictates priority to FLOSS (in limited scope)
France among the leading nations on FLOSS adoption

15. 4500
4000
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
Unstoppable ?
4 Md€
2,5 Md€
CAGR ~45%
1,5 Md€
140 M€ 450 M€
60 M€
2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014
Total FLOSS market in France, 2000-2014. Source: PAC.

16. FLOSS pure-players in France
~330 players focussed on FLOSS
Software vendors, service providers,
integrators, consultants, trainers…
Healthy and fast growing companies
Mostly small and medium sized
They concentrate expertise and are
enabling the wider FLOSS industry

17. FLOSS clusters in France

18. Since 2010, the CNLL
CNLL was created by FLOSS clusters in
2010, with 3 missions:
Facilitate coordination and joint-ventures
between clusters
Communicate on the sector, its key role
in innovation and its specific concerns
Represent the sector’s enterprises
towards governmental and public
institutions at the national level

19. The next 15 years
Business logic has taken open source to new heights,
new territories
But the spirit of free software lives on
Keeping control over the software that controls our
lives has never been more vital
After the Snowden revelations, trust in software is
broken, only Floss can restore it
The Cloud offers great opportunities, but comes with
great dangers too. Primarily that of loosing control
Shared R&D still has large swathes of IT to conquer