Developer Track: Open Source and XBRL: Where are we?

XBRL and Open Source:Where Are We?

December 6, 2006

Philadelphia

Brian DeLacey

[email protected]

Interactive Securities


This Session

XBRL is at a key stage in its development as a standard. The specification is complete, even if it is complicated. What it suffers from is limited adoption in the marketplace. An open source approach to building key software components could help. This session will summarize current open source efforts around XBRL.


Audience

How many are developing XBRL software? How many are users of XBRL software? How many are both?


Outline

What is Open Source and Free Software? A Short History of Open Source Software Licensing Open Source Software How do you build, “buy”, and share it?

– Development, Business, Distribution XBRL and Open Source

– Past, Present, Future Conclusions Questions


What is Open Source?

Free Redistribution Source Code Included Derived Works Under the Same Terms Integrity of Authors’ Original Source No Discrimination License Must Not Restrict Other Software Technology Neutral

Source: Open Source Initiative


What is Free Software?

What is the definition of Free Software?– Freedom to Run The Program for Any Purpose– Freedom to Study How The Program Works and

Adapt it for Your Own Needs– Freedom to Redistribute Copies– Freedom to Improve The Program

Source: Free Software Foundation

Free software is a matter of liberty not price. Think of "free" as in "free speech".


OSS

FOSS = Free/Open Source Software FLOSS = Free/Libre/Open Source Software OSS = For this session, we will refer to the

collective area as “open source software”– There are a many more commonalities than

differences across all of these definitions


A Short History: OSS Evolves

1950s – IBM’s SHARE user group 1960s – ARPANET and RFCs 1970s – DARPA and TCP/IP 1980s – The ‘Charlie Hoffman’ era begins

– Richard Stallman and Free Software Foundation– Public Domain Software for PCs

1990s – The Open Source Initiative– WWW, Netscape, Linux, Apache, W3C, and more

2000+ - Open Source Application Foundation


A Short History: OSS Today

How many people use open source?– Firefox, Linux, MySQL, Open Office, Eclipse,

Apache Web Server, Mac OS X, TiVo

Web Servers– 105+ million sites, with 61% running Apache

From Seven Dwarfs to Seven Freax* of OSS– IBM, Oracle, Sun, Novell, Apple, Adobe, and

Ubuntu *Free + freak + X for Unix was Torvalds’ name for LinuxThese companies rely on OSS to generate $$$ revenue


What about OSS and XBRL?

Do you use Open Source XBRL software?– Processing– Viewing– Taxonomy Development

Good news– OSS and XBRL has a bright future

In what situations does OSS succeed?


OSS: Success Factors

High Need Public Good Community (tight communication loops) Ecosystem of Beneficiaries Active Organizational Support Accessible Toolset (Python, Ruby, Script …) Organized Development/Testing Processes


Licensing Open Source Software

OSS is intellectual property The bad news: This is a complicated area The good news: There are choices The best news: This is likely to get better and

easier in the future Here’s why …


Licensing Open Source Software

The Classics– GPL is the GNU General Public License– BSD is from Berkley– MIT– Mozilla– Plus many others….

It is in the best interests of customers and vendors to simplify this area and reduce risk


How do you build, “buy”, and share it?

Development Models– Developer Motivations– OSS Project Archetypes

Business Models– Questions, questions, questions….– Making Money / Saving Money

Distribution Models


Development Models: Motivations

Social / Community – 53.2%– Learning, sharing knowledge, getting involved

Career / Monetary – 31.4%– Job opportunities, reputation, software distribution

Political – 17%– Proprietary = Bad, Limit Big = Empower others

Product Related – 2.6%– Where there isn’t a proprietary alternative

Source: 2002 Survey, Int’l Institute of Infonomics


Development Models: Archetypes

Revolutionary – Richard Stallman– May 1989, Marching on Lotus

Shrek the Gentle Giant – IBM, Sun, Mozilla Philanthropist – Mitch Kapor Heavyweight Crew – Expert team, Apache Uncle Sam – Gov’t Agency like DARPA Accidental Revolutionary – Linus Torvalds

– Send postcards, not money


Business Models: Questions

Software Companies– How much does it cost to give software away?– How do I make money by giving software away?

End User Organizations– How much does it cost to use free software?

Where is your core competency? What are your revenue and cost flows?


Business Models: Making Money

Packaging Technical Support Customization (Embedding, OEM) Subscriptions Professional Services Bundle with Hardware, Systems Sales Dual Licensing Possibilities (e.g. MySQL)


Business Models: Saving Money

Outsourced Activities Can Lower Costs– Ongoing Maintenance– Sustaining Development

Increasing Innovation from Outside Enabling Multi-Vendor Sourcing

– Changes to your Risk Structure Concentrate resources

– on areas of competitive advantage


Distribution Models

Commercial Off-the-shelf (COTS) Web 2.0 – Interactive Web Applications Finance Portals

– Yahoo!, Google, MSN, Wall Street Journal

Modules and Extensions OEM Bundled Services Custom / Systems Solutions


XBRL and Open Source: The Past

“I’d like to see the Commission consider Open Source Software …”– Brian DeLacey, in a public comment letter to the

SEC on June 9, 2006


XBRL and Open Source:A Sense of the possible

“… the software that we develop and the XBRL tags we are paying to write will all be open source.”– SEC Chairman Cox, October 3, 2006, “Interactive

Data Roundtable: New Software to Make Better Information a Reality”


XBRL and Open Source: Now

University of Cologne, Holger Obst Bryant University, XBRL Education Center Standard Advantage (XSLT samples) ABRA (Java, XSLT), Thomas Klement XBRLAPI (Java), Geoff Shuetrim Rivet XBRL Viewer (.NET based) UBMatrix XBRL Processor (Java based)


ABRA

Release version 0.9 (end of 2006)– improved performance and robustness– instance collections, incremental loading– Dimensional Taxonomies– Generic Linkbases– no backwards compatibility to version 0.8

Release 1.0 (expected at Munich Conference)– validation of instances and taxonomies– Apache 2.0 License


XBRL and Open Source – in the house

UBMatrix – Steve Hord– “.. a great accelerator of technology adoption” Sunir

Kapoor, President and CEO of UBmatrix. – Sourceforge Codebase, Java, Release by end of 2006

Rivet – Rob Blake – "By working with the open source community we hope to

accelerate the ability of users and developers alike to create even more innovative applications based on the XBRL global standard." Mike Rohan, president of Rivet

– Release in First Quarter 2007


XBRL and Open Source: Future

Key Characteristics– Quality– Performance– Variety– Ubiquity– Standards Based– Compatible Implementations– Good Documentation


Conclusions

XBRL provides the right environment for Open Source Software to thrive

XBRL software vendors have demonstrated leadership in moving to Open Source

Customers who use XBRL have great incentives to encourage more Open Source!

Open Source will accelerate XBRL adoption Using XBRL will become as easy as TiVo


Questions?

How do I get copies of XBRL filings for free? What would Rocky do?

– Will vendors work together or fight for turf?

When will browsers have XBRL add-ins? What happens if the SEC’s deployment of

Interactive Data is wildly successful? Thank you for your interest!


Further Reading

The Value of Openness in Scientific Problem Solving by Karim R. Lakhani , Lars Bo Jeppesen , Peter A. Lohse & Jill A. Panetta (Unpublished Working Paper, 2006, Harvard Business School, Soldiers Field, Boston, MA, 02163, USA)

Perspectives on Free and Open Source Software by Joseph Feller, et. al. (2005) Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology by

Henry Chesbrough (2005) Understanding Open Source and Free Software Licensing by Andrew M. St. Laurent

(2004) The Success of Open Source by Steven Weber (2004, 2005) The Business and Economics of Linux and Open Source by Martin Fink (2003) Free as in Freedom: Richard Stallman's Crusade for Free Software by Sam Williams

(2002) The Cathedral & the Bazaar : Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental

Revolutionary by Eric S. Raymond (2001) Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary by Linus Torvalds and David

Diamond (2001) Open Source: The Unauthorized White Papers, Donald K. Rosenberg (2000) Open Source and MicroEconomics: What’s it mean to me and my company?,

www.interactivesecurities.com/Open_Source_and_My_Company.html

Documents

Developer Track: Open Source and XBRL: Where are we?