Freeloaders are Essential and Other Open Source Product Truths
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This document discusses the history and evolution of open source software sharing and communities. It notes that software sharing has occurred since the earliest days of computing in the 1940s and 1950s through organizations like SHARE and DECUS that allowed collaboration and code sharing. Over time, open source practices developed through initiatives like the Free Software Foundation and the release of Linux. The document outlines best practices for open source projects to build developer communities, encourage contributions, and manage commercial relationships. It emphasizes that open source communities should be separate from commercial products and customer pipelines.
![A small diversion on software engineering …
• 2 ratios define software development
• All advances in programming languages and software
engineering is attempting to beat these two ratios
• [Community|Product] scale depends on reliably delivering
the known executable environment every time
• Linus’s Law is about REVIEWS not BUG FIXING](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/ato-2016-161027190204/85/Freeloaders-are-Essential-and-Other-Open-Source-Product-Truths-30-320.jpg)
Freeloaders are Essential and Other Open Source Product Truths
- 6. 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 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
- 7. 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 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
- 8. 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 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
- 9. 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 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
- 10. A Story
- 11. Engineering Economics of F/OSS (Benefits) • In 1995, Interix was the kernel-integrated “UNIX” face of Windows NT • ~300 packages covered by ~25 licenses + Microsoft POSIX subsystem derivative + Softway developed software • gcc provided critical support for Interix Toolchain & SDK (~750K LoC*) • Ported/Integrated/Tested to Interix in ~6-8 months by a senior compiler engineer instead of ~US$10M-20M* cost-to-develop • But now we’re living on a fork … * Estimates from Black Duck Open Hub
- 12. Forks The Two Ronnies, “Four Candles”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO6EE1xTXmw
- 13. Engineering Economics of F/OSS (Costs) • Cost of Interix gcc fork is ~6 months of a senior engineer’s time (~US$50K+) • If Interix changes are upstream, we estimate 2-4 weeks of integration/testing on new gcc releases (~US$7-10K) • But there are really five gcc projects to negotiate … • Cygnus Solutions are core committers on gcc: quoted ~US$120K and they could start in 14 months • Ada Core Technology ALSO had core committers: US$40K & immediate start
- 15. 2 Stories
- 24. How do you increase your user base? (How do you make it easy to install/configure/use the software?)
- 30. A small diversion on software engineering … • 2 ratios define software development • All advances in programming languages and software engineering is attempting to beat these two ratios • [Community|Product] scale depends on reliably delivering the known executable environment every time • Linus’s Law is about REVIEWS not BUG FIXING
- 37. Foundations • Henrik Ingo’s numbers • Foundations CAN provide neutral ownership and a level playing field • Bright lines for projects versus products
- 49. Don’t Confuse Communities with Customers R&D Product Marketing Messages $$$ Code, etc. Conversations Identify Customer Awareness Download & Try Deploy? Train? ??? Buy Identify community What Mission? Platform & Tools Arch. of Participation Code of Conduct IP Machine Governance Structure … with different tools, programs and metrics. Community members build awareness and evangelize, provide expertise and trial support, are a demonstration of solution viability, and provide great inertia around your solution – Contributors provide innovation
- 50. A Last Story
- 56. Creative Commons Photo Credits • Stephen R. Walli (https://www.flickr.com/photos/stephenrwalli/)(campfire, car) • Mitch Barrie (https://www.flickr.com/photos/simonov/)(engine) • Stuart Rankin (https://www.flickr.com/photos/24354425@N03/)(steel) • Selby Lynn (https://www.flickr.com/photos/stacylynn/)(house) • Emilian Robert Vicol (https://www.flickr.com/photos/free-stock/)(lumber) • Olga Caprotti (https://www.flickr.com/photos/__olga__/)(trees) • James Willamor (https://www.flickr.com/photos/bz3rk/)(football field)