The document discusses challenges and best practices for open source software projects. It addresses how to encourage users, contributors and developers for a project. It also discusses differences between community projects and corporate projects, and how to manage expectations between customers, partners and the community. Commercial open source requires treating customers differently than the community. The key is focusing on the problem the software solves for customers rather than getting distracted by other issues. Open source software is about engineering economics as writing good software is hard work, and companies have been sharing software privately for a long time.

1. The Trouble with Open
Source Software
Stephen R. Walli
@stephenrwalli
SCaLE 15X

2. 2016: The Year of Open Source Angst

3. Making Open Source Software Sustainable
vs
Accelerating Commercial Open Source Software

4. Roads & Bridges

5. Accelerating Commercial Open Source Software
Projects
Products
Profits

6. How do I get my project HELP (people/$$$)?
How do I SUSTAIN my project?
How do I deal with BURN OUT?

7. How do I get my project HELP (people/$$$)?
How do I SUSTAIN my project?
How do I deal with BURN OUT?

8. How do we ACCELERATE this project?
How do we get more CORPORATE SPONSORS?
How do we make money?

9. How do we ACCELERATE this project?
How do we get more CORPORATE SPONSORS?
How do we make money?

10. Community Mechanics
Commercial Open Source Adventures
Software Dynamics

11. Community Mechanics

12. No one cares about your project

13. No one cares about your project
(50M Publicly Viewable Repos)

14. No one cares about your project
(“Ask not what ….”)

15. Committers
Contributors
Community
EcosystemProject
Products
Services
Books
Training
The (Historical) Evolution of an Open Source Project

16. Committers
Contributors
Community
EcosystemProject
Products
Services
Books
Training
The (Historical) Evolution of a Open Source Project
Well Run

17. Committer(s)
+
Code

18. Developers
Committers
+
Code

19. Developers
Committers
+
Code

20. Developers
Users
Committers
+
Code

21. Developers
Users
Committers
+
Code

22. Developers
Users
Committers
+
Code
Books
Contractors
Products
Distributions
Consulting
Training
Support

23. 1000:100:10:1

24. 1000:100:10:1
(Freeloaders means you’re doing it right)

25. How do you increase your user base?
(Because that’s where you’ll find your developers)

26. How do you increase your user base?
(Because that’s where you’ll find your developers)
How do you encourage developers?
(Because these are your future contributors)

27. How do you increase your user base?
(Because that’s where you’ll find your developers)
How do you encourage developers?
(Because these are your future contributors)
How do you make it easy to contribute?
(Because this is the growth and success of your community)

28. How do you increase your user base?
(How do you make it easy to install/configure/use the software?)
How do you encourage developers?
(How do you make it easy to build/test/experiment?)
How do you make it easy to contribute?
(What do you communicate to your community)

29. Open Source Community Practices
Project Exes
published
Project Build
Automated I
Project Install
Automated
Complete Src
published
Project
BugTracking
Project Build
Automated II
Project Test
Automated I
Project Test
Automated II
Basic Arch
Description
Project
License
Mission
Statement
Code of
Conduct
Forums, Email
Comms
Platform
FAQs, Howto
Governance
Contributoion
Guidelines
Events
Community Development
Software Construction Maturity

30. Open Source Community Patterns
Project Exes
published
Project Build
Automated I
Project Install
Automated
Complete Src
published
Project
BugTracking
Project Build
Automated II
Project Test
Automated I
Project Test
Automated II
Basic Arch
Description
Project
License
Mission
Statement
Code of
Conduct
Forums, Email
Comms
Platform
FAQs, Howto
Governance
Contributoion
Guidelines
Events
Community Development
Software Construction Maturity
Encourage
Users
Encourage
ContributorsEncourage Developers

31. No Scale without Discipline

32. Committers
Contributors
Community
EcosystemProject
Products
Services
Books
Training
The Evolution of an Open Source Project

33. Committers
Contributors
Community
EcosystemProject
Products
Services
Books
Training
Corporate
Contributors
The Evolution of an Open Source Project

34. Committers
Contributors
Community
EcosystemProject
Products
Services
Books
Training
Corporate
Contributors
Customers
The Evolution of an Open Source Project

35. Commercial
Open Source Community IP Practices
Project
License
Provenance
Tracking
Repositories
Protected
Dependencies
Documented
Contributions
Auditted
Provenance
Management
Committers
Indemnified
Committer
Governance
Trademark
Management
IP Management Activities

36. Open Source Community Practices
Project Exes
published
Project Build
Automated I
Project Install
Automated
Complete Src
published
Project
BugTracking
Project Build
Automated II
Project Test
Automated I
Project Test
Automated II
Basic Arch
Description
Project
License
Project
License
Mission
Statement
Code of
Conduct
Forums, Email
Comms
Platform
FAQs, Howto
Governance
Contributoion
Guidelines
Events
Provenance
Tracking
Repositories
Protected
Dependencies
Documented
Contributions
Auditted
Provenance
Management
Committers
Indemnified
Committer
Governance
Trademark
Management
IP Management Activities
Community Development
Software Construction Maturity

37. Open Source Community Patterns
Project Exes
published
Project Build
Automated I
Project Install
Automated
Complete Src
published
Project
BugTracking
Project Build
Automated II
Project Test
Automated I
Project Test
Automated II
Basic Arch
Description
Project
License
Project
License
Mission
Statement
Code of
Conduct
Forums, Email
Comms
Platform
FAQs, Howto
Governance
Contributoion
Guidelines
Events
Provenance
Tracking
Repositories
Protected
Dependencies
Documented
Contributions
Auditted
Provenance
Management
Committers
Indemnified
Committer
Governance
Trademark
Management
IP Management Activities
Community Development
Software Construction Maturity
Encourage
Users
Encourage
ContributorsEncourage Developers
Encourage/
Manage Corp
Contributions

38. Community organization practices
Software construction discipline
Automate all the things
Learn to say “no” …
Learn to share responsibility

39. Commercial Open Source Adventures

40. There is NO Open Source Business Model

41. There is only business

42. No one cares about your product

43. No one cares about your product
(“The customer doesn’t want a ¼ inch drill ….”)

44. Corporate Project vs. Community Project

45. Corporate Project vs. Community Project
Core Customer Value vs. Complement Value

46. Corporate Project vs. Community Project
Core Customer Value vs. Complement Value
Core Competency vs. Context

47. Corporate Project vs. Community Project
Core Customer Value vs. Complement Value
Core Competency vs. Context
Controlled IP vs. Shared IP

48. Corporate Project vs. Community Project
Core Customer Value vs. Complement Value
Core Competency vs. Context
Controlled IP vs. Shared IP
Evangelism vs. Engineering Economics

49. Committers
Contributors
Community
EcosystemProject
Products
Services
Books
Training
Corporate
Contributors
The Evolution of an Open Source Project

50. Engineering/
Partner?/
Customer?/
Committers
Engineering/
Partner?/
Customer?/
Contributors
Community
EcosystemProject
Products
Services
Books
Training
Partner/Customer
Contributors
The Evolution of a Corporate Open Source Project
Setting Customer and Partner Expectations in Community is Critical

51. Engineering/
Partner?/
Customer?/
Committers
Engineering/
Partner?/
Customer?/
Contributors
Community
EcosystemProject
Products
Services
Books
Training
Partner/Customer
Contributors
The Reality of a Corporate Open Source Project
Setting Customer and Partner Expectations in Community is Critical

52. Customers versus Community
(Money vs. Time; Expectations are different; Conversations are different)

53. Customers versus Community
(Money vs. Time; Expectations are different; Conversations are different)
Partners versus Community
(Don’t mix business with community)

54. Customers versus Community
(Money vs. Time; Expectations are different; Conversations are different)
Partners versus Community
(Don’t mix business with community)
Products versus Projects
(Success metrics are different; OKRs and KPIs are different)

55. Engineering/
Partner?/
Customer?/
Competitors?/
Committers
Engineering/
Partner?/
Customer?/
Competitors?/
Contributors
Community
EcosystemProject
Products
Services
Books
Training
Partners/Competitors
Contributors
The Reality of Corporate Open Source Projects
Setting Customer and Partner Expectations in Community is Critical

56. What problem are you solving for your customer
Don’t confuse projects with products
Don’t confuse community with customers
Learn to ignore your competitors
Learn to share engineering context responsibility

57. Software Dynamics

58. Open Source Software is about Engineering Economics

59. 1950 1960 1970 200019901980 2010
Code sharing
At Princeton
IAS in late
1940s
IBM “SHARE”
Conf & Library
Begins 1953
DECUS
Conf & Library
Begins 1962
MIT Project
Athena Begins
1983
1BSD Released
1977
AT&T Shares
First UNIX tapes
early-70s
Free Software
Foundation
Launches 1985
2nd DoJ vs IBM begins
“Software Bundling
is Anti-competitive”
1969
IBM response is to
unbundle HW, SW, &
services pricing
1st DoJ vs IBM
Consent Decree
“Hardware Bundling
is Anti-competitive”
1956
Open Source
Definition 1997
USENIX Begins
1975
Linus Releases
Linux 1991
Apache httpd
Released 1995
Apache Software
Foundation 1999
OSDL Forms
2000
OSDL Re-forms as
Linux Foundation
2007
U.S. Congress
Adds Computer
Software to
Copyright Law
1980
GCC
1987
emacs
1975
We’ve shared software since we’ve written software

60. 1950 1960 1970 200019901980 2010
Code sharing
At Princeton
IAS in late
1940s
IBM “SHARE”
Conf & Library
Begins 1953
DECUS
Conf & Library
Begins 1962
MIT Project
Athena Begins
1983
1BSD Released
1977
AT&T Shares
First UNIX tapes
early-70s
Free Software
Foundation
Launches 1985
2nd DoJ vs IBM begins
“Software Bundling
is Anti-competitive”
1969
IBM response is to
unbundle HW, SW, &
services pricing
1st DoJ vs IBM
Consent Decree
“Hardware Bundling
is Anti-competitive”
1956
Open Source
Definition 1997
USENIX Begins
1975
Linus Releases
Linux 1991
Apache httpd
Released 1995
Apache Software
Foundation 1999
OSDL Forms
2000
OSDL Re-forms as
Linux Foundation
2007
U.S. Congress
Adds Computer
Software to
Copyright Law
1980
GCC
1987
emacs
1975
We’ve shared software since we’ve written software
Writing good software is hard work

61. 1950 1960 1970 200019901980 2010
Code sharing
At Princeton
IAS in late
1940s
IBM “SHARE”
Conf & Library
Begins 1953
DECUS
Conf & Library
Begins 1962
MIT Project
Athena Begins
1983
1BSD Released
1977
AT&T Shares
First UNIX tapes
early-70s
Free Software
Foundation
Launches 1985
2nd DoJ vs IBM begins
“Software Bundling
is Anti-competitive”
1969
IBM response is to
unbundle HW, SW, &
services pricing
1st DoJ vs IBM
Consent Decree
“Hardware Bundling
is Anti-competitive”
1956
Open Source
Definition 1997
USENIX Begins
1975
Linus Releases
Linux 1991
Apache httpd
Released 1995
Apache Software
Foundation 1999
OSDL Forms
2000
OSDL Re-forms as
Linux Foundation
2007
U.S. Congress
Adds Computer
Software to
Copyright Law
1980
GCC
1987
emacs
1975
Companies shared software before we had the OSD
DEC Ultrix
1984
SunOS
1983
OSF/1
1992
Red Hat
1993

62. 1950 1960 1970 200019901980 2010
Code sharing
At Princeton
IAS in late
1940s
IBM “SHARE”
Conf & Library
Begins 1953
DECUS
Conf & Library
Begins 1962
MIT Project
Athena Begins
1983
1BSD Released
1977
AT&T Shares
First UNIX tapes
early-70s
Free Software
Foundation
Launches 1985
2nd DoJ vs IBM begins
“Software Bundling
is Anti-competitive”
1969
IBM response is to
unbundle HW, SW, &
services pricing
1st DoJ vs IBM
Consent Decree
“Hardware Bundling
is Anti-competitive”
1956
Open Source
Definition 1997
USENIX Begins
1975
Linus Releases
Linux 1991
Apache httpd
Released 1995
Apache Software
Foundation 1999
OSDL Forms
2000
OSDL Re-forms as
Linux Foundation
2007
U.S. Congress
Adds Computer
Software to
Copyright Law
1980
GCC
1987
emacs
1975
Companies shared software before we had the OSD
(Writing good software is hard work)
DEC Ultrix
1984
SunOS
1983
OSF/1
1992
Red Hat
1993

63. Collaboratively-Developed Liberally-Licensed Software is
about Engineering Economics

64. The Democratization of Music

65. The Democratization of Music, Books,

66. The Democratization of Music, Books,
Movies

67. The Democratization of Music, Books,
Movies, Journalism

68. The Democratization of Music, Books,
Movies, Journalism, TV …

69. “Democratization”
Dramatically Lowered Barriers to Entry
Removed Lower Distribution Costs

70. The Democratization of Software

71. Software is Dynamic

72. Software is a Malleable Machine

73. Software Creation is an Engineering Process

74. “Software is eating the world.”

75. The Demand for Software is Going UP

76. We are Tackling New Bigger Problems

77. We are Tackling New Bigger Problems
We are Tackling New Smaller Problems

78. We are Tackling New Bigger Problems
We are Tackling New Smaller Problems
We are Tackling New Big Data Problems

79. We are Tackling New Bigger Problems
We are Tackling New Smaller Problems
We are Tackling New Big Data Problems
We are Tackling New ML Problems

80. The Software Skills Gap is Growing

81. The Software Skills Gap is Growing
The Software Quality Gap is Growing

82. 50,000,000 Publicly Viewable Repos

83. 50,000,000 Publicly Viewable Repos
(49,950,000 Repositories of Dross)

84. How do I get my project HELP (people/$$$)?
How do I SUSTAIN my project?
How do I deal with BURN OUT?

85. How do I get my project HELP (people/$$$)?
How do I SUSTAIN my project?
How do I deal with BURN OUT?

86. How do we ACCELERATE this project?
How do we get more CORPORATE SPONSORS?
How do we make money?

87. How do we ACCELERATE this project?
How do we get more CORPORATE SPONSORS?
How do we make money?

88. Collaboratively-Developed, Liberally-Licensed Software is …

89. Open Source Software is …

90. Open Source Software is
The solution to the demand problem …

91. Open Source Software is
The solution to the demand problem …
The solution to the skills gap problem …

92. In a world of Open Source Software

93. In a world of Open Source Software,
How do we move from programming to engineering?

94. In a world of Open Source Software,
How do we move from programming to engineering?
How do we share more and better software more easily?

95. Thank you

96. Questions & Comments
stephen r walli
stephen.walli@gmail.com
@stephenrwalli
http://stephesblog.blogs.com
http://opensource.com
https://medium.com/@stephenrwalli/

97. The License Rant