Open Source Software: The Governance Makes the Difference

Open Source Software:

Governance Makes the Difference

Cédric Thomas, OW2

NetFutures, March 25, 2015, Brussels

Open Source Workshop

Mar 19, 2015 2Cedric Thomas

Agenda Context

Proactive OSS Strategy

Governance

Community Governance

Governance in Action

Summary


OSS DefinedOSS is a stretegic driverToday's innovation is collaborative

Context

4

0> The freedom to run the software for any purpose

5


1> The freedom to study how the software works and to adapt it to your needs

6



2> The freedom to redistribute copies of the software

7



2> The freedom to redistribute copies of the software

3> The freedom to improve the software and distribute your improvements to the public

8

9

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Private,Integratedplatform

Business powered by open source

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Private,Integratedplatform

Open SourceCommons

Business powered by open source

Ecosystem-basedinnovation

AndroidChrome

Bootstrap

Kafka

Open Compute

FutureInternet

hadoop

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Project Size

Market Readiness

Ubuntu, Xen, ASM,VLC, Tomcat, Bonita

ContrailOpen Nebula

Linux, OpenStack, LibreOffice,Talend Open Studio, Gnome, KVM,

SpagoBI, Firefox, Eclipse, etc.

GeniviOpenDaylight

OpenCloudware

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Project Size

Market Readiness

Ubuntu, Xen, ASM,VLC, Tomcat, Bonita

- Strong Community Support- Start-up & Corporate Support- Industry-grade Distributions

ContrailOpen Nebula

- Weak Community- Limited Corporate Support

Linux, OpenStack, LibreOffice,Talend Open Studio, Gnome, KVM,

SpagoBI, Firefox, Eclipse, etc.- Community Maturity- Governance by Non-Profit Org.- Full Corporate Support- Industry-grade Distributions

GeniviOpenDaylight

OpenCloudware- Fledgeling Community- Limited Corporate Support

Cedric Thomas

Successful open source projects are supported by IT companies.

Corporate support ensures roadmap consistency and long-term sustainability.

Corporate support develops industry-grade distributions and market-ready offerings.

Corporate support helps grow market outreach, sign-up early adopters and provide use cases for mainstream market.

Cedric Thomas

Successful projects implement flawless open source governance.

Open source governance best practices help build sustainable communities.

Code complementers more likely to contribute to trustworthy OSS projects.

Non-Profit open source organizations provide neutral support and sustainability.

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Collab. Project Deliverable

Software Market Expectations

POCsUse-casesDemonstrationsCode

Documentation RoadmapUpgradesBug-fixingTrainingSupportPackagingCase studiesCollateralPricingContractsEarly adoptersEtc.

GovernanceSustainabilityCritical mass

Open Source Specifics

DeliveryChallenge

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Enforce OSS GovernanceDevelop technology commonsEngage with EU OSS orgs.Create business opportunitiesLaunch OSS marketplace

ProactiveOSS Strategy

Cedric Thomas

IT Industry

Collab.Projects

MainstreamMarket

DeliveryChallenge

Enforce Open Source Governance

→ Proper OSS governance as a project evaluation criteria

→ Add OSS Manager to Exploitation and Innovation managers

→ Require OSS projects to join and comply with OSS communities.

IT Industry

OSSGovernance

Collab.Projects

MainstreamMarket

Pay to develop technology commons

→ Establish financial support for project contributors

→ Develop market-ready technology commons

→ Implement selection process of high-potential OSS projects

IT Industry

OSSGovernance

Technologycommons

Collab.Projects

MainstreamMarket

Engage with EU-based OSS communities

→ Support global EU-centric communities, OW2, LibreOffice, etc.

→ Involve them in existing EU industry engagement mechanisms

→ Create incentives for industry to support global EU-centric communities, OW2, LibreOffice, etc

IT Industry

OSSGovernance

Technologycommons

OSSSupport

Collab.Projects

MainstreamMarket

Create OSS business opportunities.

→ Use EC IT buying power to grow OSS market attractiveness

→ Develop user-side policy guidelines supporting OSS

→ Help grow commercial support for OSS technology commons.

IT Industry

OSSGovernance

Technologycommons

OSSSupport

BusinessOpportunites

Collab.Projects

MainstreamMarket

Launch the EU OSS shopping mall

→ Marketplace for selected open source technology commons.

→ Facilitate connexion between projects and market

→ Technology commons are ''pre-competition''

IT Industry

OSSGovernance

Technologycommons

OSSSupport


OSSMarketplace

Collab.Projects

MainstreamMarket

Launch the EU OSS shopping mall

IT Industry

OSSGovernance

Technologycommons

OSSSupport


OSSMarketplace

Collab.Projects

MainstreamMarket

Create business opportunities

Engage with EU OSS organizations

Pay to developtechnology commons

Enforce OSSgovernance


Any body can do an OSS projectCommunities vs RepositoriesGovernance vs LicenceWhy governanceGovernance styles

Governance


Anybody can create an open source project

GitHub: 5 900 000*

SourceForge: 430 000*

OpenHub: 668 541*

* http://magazine.uc.edu/favorites/web-only/wanstrath.html* http://sourceforge.net/about* https://www.openhub.net/explore/projects* http://fr.slideshare.net/blackducksoftware/open-source-by-the-numbers

http://magazine.uc.edu/favorites/web-only/wanstrath.html

http://sourceforge.net/about

https://www.openhub.net/explore/projects

http://fr.slideshare.net/blackducksoftware/open-source-by-the-numbers


Communities vs Repositories

GitHub: 5 900 000*

SourceForge: 430 000*

OpenHub: 668 541*

Eclipse: 400

Apache: 250

OW2: 100

OpenStack: 20

* http://magazine.uc.edu/favorites/web-only/wanstrath.html* http://sourceforge.net/about* https://www.openhub.net/explore/projects*

http://magazine.uc.edu/favorites/web-only/wanstrath.html

http://sourceforge.net/about

https://www.openhub.net/explore/projects


Governance vs License License

Legal framework

Grants people rights to use the code

Reflects a business strategy

Governance

Social framework

Defines how people collaborate

Reflects an organization strategy

License = 0Governance = 0



Legal framework



Governance

Social framework







Legal framework



Governance

Social framework






Ah! Much better!


When governance is needed

Size of the community

Increasing conflicts

Extensive resources

Commercial interest

Source: Jono Bacon, The Art of Community


Governance styles

Benevolent dictator

Meritocracy

Democracy

Commercial


Communities have governanceWhy implement governanceGovernance styles

CommunityGovernance


https://www.apache.org/foundation/governance/


https://eclipse.org/org/documents/


https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/Governance


http://www.libreoffice.org/about-us/governance/


http://www.linuxfoundation.org/collaborate/workgroups/cgl/governance


http://www.xenproject.org/governance.html


http://www.opendaylight.org/project/governance


http://www.ow2.org/view/About/Board


Governance elementsCommunity building planTechnical Licensing FrameworkOpen source charterAdvisory BoardGovernance benefits

GovernanceIn Action


Governance elementsBylaws

Principles

Roles

Structures/Bodies

Decision making

Conflict solving

Ownership

Joining

Procedures

Elections

Etc.

Examples:

Board of Directors

Technology Council


Community Building Stages

Infrastructure

Governance

Marketing

Technical Stage Open Source Stage Ecosystem Stage


Technical Licensing Framework

Component license inventory, positioning and linkage

Core Platform, Project deliverable

Applications, Demos, Use cases

Third Party Tooling

Execution, Processing environment

Applications

Core

Tools

Execution


The AppHub open source charter

Project documentation

Use of and compliance with standards

Project testing process

Licenses, copyright and IP mgt

Tools and development environment

Commits and bug report mgt

Code maintainability and stability

Configuration and version mgt

Project planning

Requirement management

Project roadmap management

Stakeholders management


The AppHub Advisory Board

Theo Lynn (Irish Centre for Cloud Computing & Commerce)Lars Kurth (Xen) Sophie Gautier (LibreOffice)Roberto di Cosmo (IRILL)Patrick Ohnewein (FSFe)Wei-Tek Tsai (BUAA)Francesco Chicchiricco (Apache

Coccon, Syncope, Olingo)Manuel Velardo (Cenatic)Dave Neary (Red Hat)Nelson Lago (Uni Sao Paolo

FLOSS Competency Center)


A good OSS governance strives at implementing legal, technical and community management best practices

Improves the overall perception and market readiness of the projects

Helps projects grow by making them easy-to-contribute-to

Improve projects' perceived trustworthiness and predictability

Make projects sustainable: worth contributing to, worth investing in


What you should remember

Summary


Governance makes the difference

Open source is a strategic driver in collaborative software innovation

A proactive OSS strategy to address the Delivery Challenge of EU-projects

Repositories are no communities, open source licenses are no governance

Well structured and experienced communities drive open source success

Governance helps projects grow by making them easy-to-contribute-to


Now let's talk!

Thank You

54

www.ow2.orgwww.apphub.eu.com

For more details please contact Cedric Thomas, OW2 CEO, [email protected]