Standards for Free and Open-Source
Software Governance Workshop Wednesday, 0900 - 1200, December 11, 2013  | The use of FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) is exploding. Organizations are setting in place internal FOSS governance processes in order to comply with FOSS license obligations. However, the many directions from which FOSS enters companies (software suppliers, outsourcing & off-shoring, etc.) makes compliance more difficult. There is a need to standardize exchanges between companies involving FOSS Intellectual property rights issues, in order to automate the processing of FOSS and save resources. The Software Package Data Exchange® (SPDX®) is a de facto standard from the Linux Foundation enabling organizations to share software package metadata that facilitate FOSS license and other policy compliance. Although SPDX is a good first step, there is a strong need to create process standards that further enhance organizational interoperability. Extensions are required to support FOSS governance processes within organizations that depend (or plan to depend) on FOSS in their software development processes, and across their service/supply chains. |
Some areas of consideration include:
- Capturing FOSS Intellectual Property (IP) information in a Wikipedia-style, easily-accessible database
- Agreeing on standard legal FOSS clauses to be used in contracts between companies
- Professional certification on FOSS licensing and usage
- Agreeing on standard contract clauses to better support supplier/customer relationships, mergers & acquisitions, divestitures, outsourcing, and other service/supply-chain integration
- Putting in place a unique way to identify software in order to automate cross-organization identification of software.
The workshop objective is to build consensus among FOSS users, developers & academic research institutions on needed FOSS governance process standards using the OMG standards development process. Program Agenda | 0900 - 0930 | Standardizing Open Source Governance Processes | | Michel Ruffin, Software Coordination Manager, Alcatel-Lucent DOWNLOAD PDF | | Most organizations are working in developing a Free and/or Open Source Software (FOSS) governance process and policy. Setting this policy in place is very costly and need to cope with external world (FOSS coming from suppliers, FOSS distributed to customers, outsourcing contracts, Merger & Acquisitions, divestitures, …). There is a need to automate processes with tools to reduce these costs and avoid human error. This talk will provide propositions to set up a ground (a set of areas) for standardizing these processes between organizations. | | 0930 - 1000 | SPDX Introduction and Status | | Phil Odence, Vice President of Corporate and Business Development, Black Duck DOWNLOAD PDF | | While certainly not the whole solution to FOSS inter-management, SPDX and its associated license list are important components . Phil will provide an overview to the standard, what it covers and what it does not. He will also give a sense for the direction of SPDX as well as how the group that develops it operates. | | 1000 - 1015 | Morning Refreshments | | 1015 - 1045 | Deploying Mission Critical Learning Management System Using Open Source Software | | Leigh Jin, Associate Professor, Information Systems Department, San Francisco State University DOWNLOAD PDF | | As more institutions of higher education confront budget cuts and financial crisis, open source Learning Management Systems become increasingly attractive, providing cost effective and efficient alternatives to commercial Learning Management Systems. This interpretive case study investigates the implementation and adoption of an open source based LMS at an university located in California. The research not only examines technical aspects associated with the adoption decision, including motivation, performance, and total cost of ownership, but also explores how IT staff and administrators react to the implemented Learning Management System. | | 1045 - 1115 | Open Source Governance and Resources | | Virginia Fournier, Senior Counsel, Cloud Computing and Open Source Legal, Hewlett-Packard DOWNLOAD PDF | | More companies are using open source software today than ever before, and there are many benefits of using open source. There are also some challenges that users face, such as compliance with the applicable open source licenses. Virginia will discuss HP's approach to open source license compliance, and share some available tools and resources. | | 1115 - 1200 | Closing Remarks and Open Discussion | | | | | NOTE: If you register for the Technical Meeting Week, you do not have to pay the additional fee(s) to attend any or all of the special events. If you register only for special events, the special fees apply. |
