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A talk I gave at Open World Forum 2011, Paris. FOSS projects grow until they reach a certain size but can grow no further. FOSS Foundations enable projects to grow to reach their potential by providing the legal structures and tools to enable corporate contribution and wider adoption. This talk looks at a brief history of foundations in the FOSS space, and what tools they provide to help community projects grow.
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FOSS Founda*ons Enable Community Growth
Stephen R. Walli
September 2011
What is a Founda*on?
Founda8ons are non-‐profits* that provide: Legal Structure
Business Opera8ons Technical Services
* But they are s8ll businesses
Founda*ons
* But they are s8ll businesses
Corporate Projects
Why does it ma?er?
Neutrality encourages contribu8on Clean IP encourages adop8on
Founda8ons act as community centre-‐of-‐gravity
Founda*on as Community Centre-‐of-‐Gravity
Crea*ng Strong Communi*es
• Support an Architecture of Par8cipa8on • Make it easy to join the conversa8on
• Support and grow commiPers
• Support lines of communica8ons
• Provide technical services (forges, code signing, etc.)
Neutrality Encourages Contribu*on (Inbound)
Neutrality and Ownership
• Henrik Ingo sta8s8cs on founda8ons and project ac8vity (hPp://bit.ly/f3O34M)
Neutrality and Ownership
• Successful Projects Grow and Evolve un8l … – Apache So[ware Founda8on – OSDL/Linux Founda8on – Eclipse Founda8on
Clean IP Encourages Adop*on (Outbound)
Legal Structures are Important
• License (inbound/outbound) • Assignments and Contribu8on Licenses
• Provenance tracking • Liability and risk management
• CommiPer indemnifica8on
Ques*ons?
Stephen R. Walli
Technical Director, Outercurve Founda8on hPp://www.outercurve.org
swalli@outercurve.org hPp://stephesblog.blogs.com (Once More unto the Breach)
hPp://www.networkworld.com/community/walli
@stephenrwalli
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