The document summarizes discussions from a meeting about open source software (OSS) and business engagement. Two case studies were presented: 1) A company that sells OSS products and hardware components expected to run Linux. 2) Challenges of contributing to OSS communities given business priorities like warranties and updates. Participants agreed to list major issues for OSS strategy and hosting businesses and discuss solutions at the next meeting. The goal is to better connect companies' OSS activities to business benefits.

1. Japan Local Meetup

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Reference:

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5. #7
● Agenda
○ Previous Review #5
○ A Case Study of the Relationship between OSS and Business (continued)
■ If anyone can make a presentation, please do.
○ Summary of previous #5 (tentative)
○ Consultation on how to proceed
● Let us know if you have an OSS business agenda.

6. #5: Business Engagement with OSS
● Business
○ Software development, using OSS in SI. Creating and delivering systems to customers. Profiting from operations and maintenance.
○ Conducting consulting business such as OSS management.
○ Hardware company. Hardware is sold at a profit. OSS is installed.
○ OSS is used for specific system development. Features achieved using OSS.
○ Several products use OSS.
● Challenges and Ideals for Contributing to OSS
○ It is difficult to approach management because the software itself is not profitable.
○ OSS is mainly used. We recognize that an approach to the OSS community is necessary, but the shortage of human resources is difficult.
○ There are issues in OSS literacy, SBOM management and license management.
○ We are indebted to OSS, but community contributions are out of reach.
○ We try to bring our technology development into upstream, but we use LTS (long-term stable).
○ There are a number of OSS per product. We need a community within the company.
○ Linux is the common PF.
○ HOSTING has its challenges.
○ There is little awareness of OSS dependency. There is little awareness of contribution.
○ The hurdle of contribution to OSS is high.
○ Since there is a delivery to the customer, the location of copyright is a problem and contribution is difficult.
○ They contribute to OSS as a team, but it is difficult to agree with "Why contribute to OSS." It needs to be explained.
■ If you don't contribute, you're likely to run into maintenance costs that keep you secure.

7. #5: More questions
● Whether to set goals for contributions
● Corporate cases
○ https://static.sched.com/hosted_files/osseu2022/6e/OSSEU22-
OSPOIssuesInAConglomerateCompany_Sony_SATO_FUKUCHI.pdf

8. #7: Case study of OSS engagement with business (continued)
● If anyone can make a presentation, please do.

9. #7: OSS Contribution Challenges and Ideals (Summary)
There are many OSS for each
product. You also need an internal
community.
Linux is the common PF.
HOSTING has its challenges.
There is little awareness of OSS
dependency. There is little
awareness of contribution.
The hurdle of contribution to OSS is
high.
Since there is a delivery to the
customer, the location of copyright is a
problem and contribution is difficult.
It is difficult to approach the
management because the software
itself does not generate profit.
OSS is mainly used. We recognize
that an approach to the OSS
community is necessary, but the
shortage of human resources is
difficult.
There are issues in OSS literacy,
SBOM management and license
management.
We are indebted to OSS, but
community contributions are out of
reach.
We try to bring our technology
development into upstream, but we
use LTS (long-term stable).
We contribute to OSS as a team, but it's hard to agree with "why contribute to
OSS." We need an explanation.
If we don't contribute, we expect the cost of maintenance to continue to be
security-aware.
● What should be discussed to connect each company's OSS activities to the continued benefit of each
company's business?
Reforming internal
awareness
Development of in-house rules
and tools
Securing
personnel/activity time
Hosting

10. # 7: Suggestions for the way forward
● OSS Business Strategy
○ List major issues, discuss solutions for each issue

11. FYI: OSS and Revenue Example
https://gigazine.net/news/20230309-learned-15-years-sumatrapdf/
Open source is not a good business model, so if you want to make money, you should look for other ways. Kowalczyk says he
made money by running ads on the SumatraPDF website, but at the time of writing, he confided that he could barely make
money because of the decline in Google AdSense revenue. Elsewhere, Kowalczyk solicits donations through Patreon and
PayPal, but says he earns more than $100 a month, but "nothing more," which makes him 14000 an insufficient source of
revenue. With that in mind, "It's rare to get both the freedom to do whatever you want and the opportunity to earn a good
salary. Choose what's important to you. Open source offers freedom, but no money" Kowalczyk wrote.

12. #7: meeting note

13. #7: meeting note
● Two case studies of the relationship between OSS and business, including oral presentations
● Business
○ It sells OSS products and products based on OSS.
○ It provides support/consulting by releasing code and hosting OSS products.
○ Sells hardware components. The components are expected to run Linux.
● Challenges and Ideals for Contributing to OSS
○ I want to enliven the OSS community and get outside cooperation. I want people to use the OSS released by our company.
○ I believe that participation in the Foundation and contributions to development are necessary to keep the OSS community
going.
○ I want to be aware of good relationships between in-house engineers and community developers.
○ I want to be creative and improve OSS hosting.
○ OSS is not guaranteed, whereas it is expected to work when combined with hardware
■ Hardware components are built in when they do not work under Linux.
○ In the past, it was possible to develop all products in-house, but it has become the norm to import them from outside,
including OSS, so how can we achieve product warranties?
■ There is a trend toward inevitable updates, but how can we deal with them, including in the supply chain?
■ For example, if you have a request for two years for a set vendor,
● how many years can you contract with a component vendor or software vendor?
● How do you deal with an OSS that you can't contract with?

14. #7: meeting note (cont’d)
● How to proceed
○ He suggested that "List major issues and discuss solutions for each issue" be implemented as described in the
document. No major comment.
○ Discuss how to proceed again next time.
■ (Motai comment: It would be nice if we could exemplify a more specific output)
● Next meeting for OSS strategy & hosting.
○ 2023-06-09 Fri, 15:00-16:00

15. See you next time!