Innovation Happens Elsewhere

Open Source as Business Strategy

1st Edition - April 11, 2005
Authors: Ron Goldman, Chris Meyer, Richard P. Gabriel
Language: English
Paperback ISBN:
9 7 8 - 1 - 4 9 3 3 - 0 3 7 5 - 5
Hardback ISBN:
9 7 8 - 1 - 5 5 8 6 0 - 8 8 9 - 4
eBook ISBN:
9 7 8 - 0 - 0 8 - 0 5 3 4 6 7 - 1

It's a plain fact: regardless of how smart, creative, and innovative your organization is, there are more smart, creative, and innovative people outside your organization than… Read more

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It's a plain fact: regardless of how smart, creative, and innovative your organization is, there are more smart, creative, and innovative people outside your organization than inside. Open source offers the possibility of bringing more innovation into your business by building a creative community that reaches beyond the barriers of the business. The key is developing a web-driven community where new types of collaboration and creativity can flourish. Since 1998 Ron Goldman and Richard Gabriel have been helping groups at Sun Microsystems understand open source and advising them on how to build successful communities around open source projects. In this book the authors present lessons learned from their own experiences with open source, as well as those from other well-known projects such as Linux, Apache, and Mozilla.

Foreword by Chris Meyer, Monitor GroupPrefaceAcknowledgements1. IntroductionOpen Source: A Different Way Of Doing BusinessInnovation Happens ElsewhereJumping InUnderstanding Open SourceCommunitiesWho This Book Is Intended ForWho Else This Book Is Intended For2. Innovation Happens ElsewhereOpen Source Is A CommonsCan The Commons Make A Difference?The Commons And SoftwareOpen Versus ClosedUse Of The Commons: Creativity & ConversationsInnovation Happens Elsewhere3. What Is Open Source?Open Source In BriefPhilosophical Tenets Of Open SourceOpen Source And Agile MethodologiesCommon Open Source Myths, Misconceptions & QuestionsOpen Source And CommunityThe Secret Of Why Open Source WorksVariations On Open Source: Gated Communities And Internal Open SourceOpen Source: Why Do They Do It?4. Why Consider Open Source?Business Reasons For Choosing To Open Source Your CodeCreating Your Business Model And Following Through With ItMeasuring SuccessAn Example: The Innovation Happens Elsewhere StrategyBusiness Reasons For Using Open Source Products5. LicensesWhat The License DoesWhat The License Does Not DoMore On CopyrightAnd A Quick Word On PatentsThe LicensesDual LicensingSupplementing The License—Contributor AgreementsLicenses For Documentation6. How To Do Open Source DevelopmentThe Infrastructure Needed For An Open Source ProjectSoftware LifecycleBuilding A CommunityEnding An Open Source ProjectJoining An Existing Open Source ProjectOpen Source Within A Company7. Going With Open SourceDeciding To Do Open SourceHow To Prepare To Do Open Source At Your CompanyGetting Approval From Your CompanyProblems You Can Expect To Encounter8. How To Build MomentumMarketing Your ProjectFocus On Your Users And ContributorsCommunity OutreachHarvesting InnovationWelcome The Unexpected9. What To Avoid—Known Problems And FailuresNot Understanding Open SourceDon't Needlessly Duplicate An Existing EffortLicensing IssuesDesign IssuesCode IssuesTrying To Control Too MuchMarketing IssuesTension Between An Open Source Project And The Rest Of Your CompanyCommunity IssuesLack Of ResourcesRecovering From Mistakes10. Closing ThoughtsAppendix A: ResourcesFurther ReadingWebsites Of InterestToolsLicensesAppendix B: LicensesApache Software LicenseArtistic LicenseBerkeley Software Distribution (BSD)FreeBSD Documentation LicenseGNU Free Documentation License (FDL)GNU General Public License (GPL)GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL)IBM Common Public License (CPL)Microsoft Shared Source License For Windows CE .NETMIT Or X LicenseMozilla Public License (MPL)Open Publication LicenseSun Community Source License (SCSL)Sun Industry Standards Source License (SISSL)Sun Public Documentation License (PDL)Appendix C: Contributor AgreementsApache Contributor AgreementFree Software Foundation Copyright Assignment FormMozilla Contributor AssignmentOpenOffice.Org Contributor AssignmentProject JXTA Contributor AssignmentAppendix D: Article From XML.Com

Ron Goldman

Ron Goldman is a researcher at Sun Microsystems Laboratories in California working on alternative software development methodologies and new software architectures inspired by biology. He has been working with open source since hacking on GDB at Lucid, Inc. back in 1992. Since 1998 he has been helping groups at Sun Microsystems understand open source and advising them on how to build successful communities around their open source projects. Prior to Sun he developed a program to generate and manipulate visual representations of complex data for use by social scientists as part of a collaboration between NYNEX Science & Technology and the Institute for Research on Learning. He has worked on programming language design, programming environments, user interface design, and data visualization. He has a PhD in computer science from Stanford University where he was a member of the robotics group.

Affiliations and expertise

Sun Microsystems, Inc., Santa Clara, California, U.S.A.

Chris Meyer

Trish and Chris Meyer are principals in Crish Design (formerly known as CyberMotion), an award-winning motion graphic design studio. The Meyers are authors of the well-known reference book Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects, considered the bible in its field, as well as the best-selling introductory After Effects/motion graphics book, After Effects Apprentice. They teach motion graphics at numerous events around the country. Crish Design has done work for NBC, ABC, HBO, Fox, TLC, New Line, and Paramount, plus corporations ranging from Apple to Xerox.

Richard P. Gabriel

Richard P. Gabriel received a PhD in Computer Science from Stanford University in 1981, and an MFA in Poetry from Warren Wilson College in 1998. He has been a researcher at Stanford University, company president and Chief Technical Officer at Lucid, Inc., vice president of Development at ParcPlace-Digitalk, a management consultant for several startups and Sun Microsystems, and Consulting Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University.He currently is a Distinguished Engineer and principal investigator of a small research group at Sun Laboratories, researching the architecture, design, and implementation of extraordinarily large, self-sustaining systems as well as development techniques for building them. He is one of Sun's open source experts, advising the company on community-based strategies. He is also President of the Hillside Group, a nonprofit that nurtures the software patterns community by holding conferences, publishing books, and awarding scholarships.He is an ACM Fellow, has been a finalist in several poetry manuscript contests, including the National Poetry Series book prize, and has won the Texas Instruments Excellence in Technical Communications Award, the Northeastern University Outstanding Alumni Award, the ACM SIGPLAN Distinguished Service Award, and the ACM/AAAI Allen Newell Award.From the press release for the 2004 Allen Newell award from the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM):"A man of remarkable breadth and challenging intellect, Richard Gabriel has had a remarkable influence not only on fundamental issues in programming languages and software design but also on the interaction between computer science and other disciplines, notably architecture and poetry. Dr. Gabriel's background spans industry and academia, technology and humanities, introspection and application. He stretches the imagination of computer scientists with ideas and innovations from other fields and thus his role in shaping the growth and impact of obj