Open Source: Business and Governance

By Shane Martin Coughlan

About Me

Owner, Opendawn Consulting

Regional Director Asia, Open Invention Network

Executive Director / Vice President Far East, OpenForum Europe

Visiting Researcher, Shimane University

Overview

Software is a knowledge product

Open Source is a management approach

It uses licenses to create a situation that delivers value

Old vs New

Intellectual Property law was traditionally used to restrict freedom

Open Source uses Intellectual Property law to grant freedom

The Basic Approach

Use, Study, Share and Improve

Keep these freedoms for subsequent users (Copyleft)

The Result

Open Source licenses allows many stakeholders with many different motives to work together

This collaboration drives value

Open Source is Big Business

49 Billion USD global market in 2011

Figures from Linux Foundation

Business Models

Development

Integration

Support

Hosted Services

(just about anything except per unit licensing)

Early Governance

It was all about the licenses

There was a narrow focus on compliance

Common Problems

People don't read the licenses

People don't follow the license terms

Simple Solutions

Read the licenses

Follow the terms

Modern Governance

Honor obligations in procurement and deployment

Maximize value throughout the supply chain

Lifecycle Management

What types of code do you use and why?

How do you manage change?

How do you ensure your obligations are met?

How is this applied through the supply chain?

Modern Solutions

There are commercial and non-commercial approaches to addressing these challenges

For example, companies like Black Duck Software provide lifecycle management tools

Meanwhile, websites like FOSSBazaar.org provide shared governance information

The Patent Problem

Patents remain a challenge for Open Source

For example, third parties may use them to restrict competition from Open Source products

Addressing This

Open Invention Network (OIN) was established by Red Hat, IBM, NEC, Sony, Novell and Philips

It runs a non-aggression community with over 400 participants

It also has a large defensive portfolio

Open Source = Shared Platforms

Stakeholders collaborate across market segments to obtain value from and protect shared platforms like Linux

Case Study: Management

Linux Foundation helps stakeholders collaborate around Linux in the US, Europe and Asia

It runs meetings, working groups and conferences to encourage shared understanding

Case Study: Legal

The European Legal Network helps 280 stakeholders collaborate across 4 continents

It runs private mailing lists, special interest groups and conferences to share knowledge

In Summary

Open Source governance used to be focused on understanding licenses as obligations

Now it is about maximizing potential through shared rules to improve collaboration

Collaboration drives value and is also used to address challenges as they arise

The Future...

Open Source will be refined to increase returns and reduce risk

However...

How stakeholders collaborate and how they leverage IPR is a rational decision

Not everyone gets value from Open Source

The market balance between proprietary and Open Source approaches remains undetermined