20 years of open source and... what’s next?
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ABSTRACT: Open source started as a marketing program for free software back in 1998. Starting as a controversial and disruptive idea, it has moved through the stages of acceptance to become the dominant idea in creating software systems. Why did it start and what was the timeline? Why did open source work so well? What's next? BIO: Simon Phipps is managing director of Meshed Insights Ltd, providing companies with open community engagement advice. He is a pro-bono director of the Open Source Initiative, the global steward of the Open Source Definition - OSI serves to advocate for, educate about and build bridges within the open source community; of The Document Foundation, stewards of LibreOffice; and of the Open Rights Group, protecting digital rights in the UK. His career has included early engagement in establishing Java, XML and weblogs as computer industry technologies as well as contributions to open standards in a variety of fields. As chief open source officer at Sun Microsystems he supervised the open source relicensing of Solaris Unix, Java and many other software systems.
20 years of open source and... what’s next?
- 1. Open Source: 15 + 20 = What’s Next? October 17, 2018 - Speck&Tech Meat-up, Trento Simon Phipps, president@opensource.org · https://opensource.org
- 2. Origins Before Open Source Open Source Is Free Software
- 3. Origins
- 4. Software Freedom Defines A Personal Ethical System “Free software is software that gives you the user the freedom to share, study and modify it. We call this free software because the user is free.” https://www.fsf.org/about/what-is-free-software
- 6. Open Source Is 20 Years Old “Open Source” is the proper name of a campaign to promote the pre-existing concept of Free Software to business, and to certify licenses to a rule set. Christine Peterson … suggested “Open Source” as a way to promote Free Software without the stigma of “free” in the English language. Bruce Perens1 , Co-Founder of the Open Source Initiative 1: https://perens.com/2017/09/26/on-usage-of-the-phrase-open-source/
- 8. Open Source let software users and developers advance software freedom at work as well as in private
- 9. The First Decade Upstart Advocacy Open Source Licensing Open Source Business Models Open Source 1998-2008 Advocacy & Controversy
- 10. Open Source Initiative OSI is the steward of the Open Source Definition and the community-recognized body for reviewing and approving open source licenses. The Open Source Initiative (OSI) is a non-profit corporation, founded in 1998 with global scope, formed to educate about and advocate for the benefits of open source and to build bridges among different constituencies in the open source community. Open source enables a development method for software that harnesses the power of distributed peer review and transparency of process. The promise of open source is higher quality, better reliability, greater flexibility, lower cost, and an end to predatory vendor lock-in. ®
- 11. Decade One Timeline - Advocacy & Controversy 1998 Term coined as rebrand for software freedom; OSI formed 1999 Open Source Definition published: licenses standardised 2000 Most open source is a proprietary replacement 2001 “Linux is a cancer” - Microsoft1 2002 Rush of new licenses 2003 SCO sues IBM over Linux2 2004 Last of Microsoft’s “Halloween Documents” 2005 Unix now open source (Sun Solaris) 2006 Open Standards Requirement (OSR) published 2007 Java now open source 2008 Most CIOs understand open source as a benefit
- 12. What Made Open Source Licensing Succeed? ● Crystallization of Consensus ● Multilateral vs Unilateral ● Creating Safe Spaces
- 13. Crystallization of Consensus In Action ● The License Review Process triggered business adoption of open source ● LIcenses for approval are posted to license-review@opensource.org according to the rules at https://opensource.org/approval ● Open public discussion leads to license improvement ● When the discussion quiesces, approval consensus then crystallized via OSI Board validation & approval ● OSI is not “King” - it is “Speaker of the House”
- 14. “A license describes the environment for a business relationship” Corporate Lawyer Bilateral?
- 15. "Licenses are constitutions for communities" Eben Moglen Multilateral!
- 16. Open source licenses are the multilateral consensus of the permissions and norms for a community
- 17. Creating Safe Spaces ● Mitigating Control Points ● Business model isolation ● Code for the unknown others
- 18. Mitigating Ownership Of Control Points &
- 19. Open Source Doesn’t Have Business Models ● … companies do! ○ Your business model is your responsibility alone ○ Project norms create safety from business models ○ Open Source licenses isolate communities for their members’ business models ○ Yes, Open Source projects protect their members from each other! ● Hence OSI will not make exceptions when approving your license to accommodate your business model
- 21. First Decade Summary Open Source won because: ● Reuse beats reimplementation ● Collaborative development beats reuse ● Both are chilled by permission-seeking ● Software freedom grants all rights in advance ● OSI approval of a license reduces uncertainty that rights are granted ● Developers don’t validate against the OSD; they check for OSI approval and then proceed.
- 22. The Second Decade Broad Enterprise Adoption Software Patents GPL Enforcement Open Source 2008-2018 Adoption & Ascendancy
- 23. Decade Two - Adoption & Ascendancy 2008 Most open source is “hidden” infrastructure : 2011 Open source enabling web service business wave : 2013 Open source powering cloud/container revolution : 2015 “Microsoft 💟 Linux” : 2017 Open source at the heart of most new software
- 26. Open Source's Real Value ● Innovate without needing to ask first ● Start where others reached ● Stay in control of your own resources ● Share upkeep of your innovation ● Influence global ecosystems ● Be protected from others doing the same ● All derived from software freedom
- 27. New Technologies Only Possible With Open Source
- 28. Permissionless1 Cloud Scaling Flexibility 1: i.e. there was no need to ask permission; it was granted in advance
- 30. The Third Decade Open Source 2018-2028 Assimilation & Authenticity
- 31. The OSI Affiliate Program allows non-profit and not-for-profit organizations to become OSI members. Affiliate membership is an ideal way for open source projects and the communities that support them to support the mission of the OSI and contribute to the continued awareness and adoption of open source software. Affiliate Membership A “who’s who” of open source communities
- 33. 3rd Decade Predictions 1. Change of community styles 2. End of single-project companies 3. Licensing stabilisation & consolidation 4. Rediscovery of software freedom 5. New applications for OSI’s Crystallisation of Consensus
- 34. 1. Community Styles First decade: “Linux On The Desktop” Second decade: Building with open source parts Third decade: The cloud is the desktop
- 35. Clouds and Software Freedom ● The Year of the Linux Desktop is finally here ○ Actually it’s been here for a while… ● Coding for freedom for the user is hard ○ Need to devise new community and project models ○ Maybe LibreOffice will be a pioneer here?
- 36. > Code for Cloud Freedom ● Important that open source projects are established for this future, either ○ Distributed applications capable of decentralised interoperability, or ○ Cloud solutions with open source model & controller (& preferably view too) ○ Preferably solutions that do both
- 37. 2. Single Project Companies First decade: “Open Source Business Models” Second decade: Release-train vs release-when-ready Third decade: Differentiation by managing complexity
- 38. > Complex assembly of simple parts
- 39. > Complex assembly of simple parts
- 40. > Complex assembly of simple parts
- 41. > Create Cultures Of Contribution ● Contribution leverages all IP for growth & innovation, not just what’s licensable ● Contribution results in others maintaining your innovation, freeing you for more ● Contribution seeds the innovation of others, allowing you to benefit from those not on your team
- 42. 3. License Consolidation First decade: Everyone wants a license of their own Second decade: Reciprocity compliance is the problem Third decade: Attribution is the problem too
- 43. > Automate & Accumulate
- 44. > Automate & Accumulate ● Accumulate author acknowledgement history (BSD, MIT etc) as well as ensuring copyleft compliance ● Add continuous compliance to continuous integration. ● Use only OSI-approved licenses
- 45. 4. Rediscovery of software freedom First decade: Open source as amoral methodology Second decade: Open source as pragmatism Third decade: Ethical compass solves new applications of open source (cloud, containers, coins) Or B: repeat all the old mistakes...
- 46. 5. New Roles for OSI Crystallising consensus... First decade: ...on licenses Second decade: ...against licenses Third decade: ...on communities and authenticity
- 47. > Join charities as well as consortia ● Consortia and “Trade Associations” are the new normal ● But open source still relies on the community charities like OSI, FSF and Software Freedom Conservancy too ● So please remember to support and promote them!
- 48. Third Decade Lifestyle > Code for Cloud Freedom > Create Cultures Of Contribution > Compliance: Automate & Accumulate > Cherish Software Freedom > Cultivate both charities & consortia
- 49. Conclusions ● Software freedom remains the essential core of software projects that succeed. ● The future of open source is the future of software freedom. What unites us must overshadow differences if we are to avoid its abridgement. ● The third decade of open source needs those who have done to pass on experience to those who will do. ● And of course! https://opensource.org/join
- 50. Happy Birthday!
- 51. Thanks for listening! Contact e-mail: president@opensource.org OSI Birthday photo page 57 by Patrick Masson, used with permission Other photos by Simon Phipps Some photos may include elements that need further licensing in your jurisdiction and/or for your use-case © 2018, Simon Phipps Licensed under Creative Commons CC-BY-SA-4.0