It’s not too late to sign up for Open Source, Open Standards 2013 in London this Thursday. Chaired by our own Simon Phipps, the conference starts with a keynote from the UK government’s open source policy lead Tariq Rashid and includes speakers from the Met Office, the Government Digital Service and the London Borough of Camden.
Open source projects are increasingly opting to form an independent entity – a “Foundation” – to form the core of their community, rather than relying on goodwill or corporate oversight. Foundations often hold shared assets such as money, trademarks and copyrights, provide infrastructure, and sometimes employ staff.
The idea is seductive, but it’s not as easy as it sounds. A Foundation can’t solve your community problems; it can only make firm the solutions you devise, by providing a canvas on which to paint the trust and governance you have all agreed and to guarantee it for future generations of your community. You need to solve the problems first.
Simon has had a talk accepted once again at the iconic Open Source Convention, OSCON. He’s spoken there many times before, including twice as a keynote speaker and this year is sharing experiences of corporations engaging with open source communities – from both sides of the fence. His talk “Can Evil Corporations Embrace Open Source?“, is scheduled for the Thursday morning of OSCON.
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