[PDF] Open Source For Business eBook

Author : Heather J. Meeker
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Page : 300 pages
File Size : 27,27 MB
Release : 2008-05-02
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 0470255811

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This book is a user manual for understanding and deployment of open source software licensing in business. Written for lawyers and businesspeople alike, it explains and analyzes open source licensing issues, and gives practical suggestions on how to deal with open source licensing in a business context. Including useful forms, information, and both technical and licensing background, this book will help you avoid legal pitfalls and edcuate your organization about the risks of open source.

Author : Lawrence E. Rosen
Publisher : Prentice Hall
Page : 436 pages
File Size : 37,94 MB
Release : 2005
Category : Computers
ISBN :

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"I have studied Rosen's book in detail and am impressed with its scope and content. I strongly recommend it to anybody interested in the current controversies surrounding open source licensing." --John Terpstra, Samba.org; cofounder, Samba-Team "Linux and open source software have forever altered the computing landscape. The important conversations no longer revolve around the technology but rather the business and legal issues. Rosen's book is must reading for anyone using or providing open source solutions." --Stuart Open Source Development Labs A Complete Guide to the Law of Open Source for Developers, Managers, and Lawyers Now that open source software is blossoming around the world, it is crucial to understand how open source licenses work--and their solid legal foundations. Open Source Initiative general counsel Lawrence Rosen presents a plain-English guide to open source law for developers, managers, users, and lawyers. Rosen clearly explains the intellectual property laws that support open source licensing, carefully reviews today's leading licenses, and helps you make the best choices for your project or organization. Coverage includes: Explanation of why the SCO litigation and other attacks won't derail open source Dispelling the myths of open source licensing Intellectual property law for nonlawyers: ownership and licensing of copyrights, patents, and trademarks "Academic licenses" BSD, MIT, Apache, and beyond The "reciprocal bargain" at the heart of the GPL Alternative licenses: Mozilla, CPL, OSL and AFL Benefits of open source, and the obligations and risks facing businesses that deploy open source software Choosing the right license: considering business models, product architecture, IP ownership, license compatibility issues, relicensing, and more Enforcing the terms and conditions of open source licenses Shared source, eventual source, and other alternative models to open source Protecting yourself against lawsuits

Author : Chris DiBona
Publisher : "O'Reilly Media, Inc."
Page : 283 pages
File Size : 17,9 MB
Release : 1999-01-03
Category : Computers
ISBN : 0596553900

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Freely available source code, with contributions from thousands of programmers around the world: this is the spirit of the software revolution known as Open Source. Open Source has grabbed the computer industry's attention. Netscape has opened the source code to Mozilla; IBM supports Apache; major database vendors haved ported their products to Linux. As enterprises realize the power of the open-source development model, Open Source is becoming a viable mainstream alternative to commercial software.Now in Open Sources, leaders of Open Source come together for the first time to discuss the new vision of the software industry they have created. The essays in this volume offer insight into how the Open Source movement works, why it succeeds, and where it is going.For programmers who have labored on open-source projects, Open Sources is the new gospel: a powerful vision from the movement's spiritual leaders. For businesses integrating open-source software into their enterprise, Open Sources reveals the mysteries of how open development builds better software, and how businesses can leverage freely available software for a competitive business advantage.The contributors here have been the leaders in the open-source arena: Brian Behlendorf (Apache) Kirk McKusick (Berkeley Unix) Tim O'Reilly (Publisher, O'Reilly & Associates) Bruce Perens (Debian Project, Open Source Initiative) Tom Paquin and Jim Hamerly (mozilla.org, Netscape) Eric Raymond (Open Source Initiative) Richard Stallman (GNU, Free Software Foundation, Emacs) Michael Tiemann (Cygnus Solutions) Linus Torvalds (Linux) Paul Vixie (Bind) Larry Wall (Perl) This book explains why the majority of the Internet's servers use open- source technologies for everything from the operating system to Web serving and email. Key technology products developed with open-source software have overtaken and surpassed the commercial efforts of billion dollar companies like Microsoft and IBM to dominate software markets. Learn the inside story of what led Netscape to decide to release its source code using the open-source mode. Learn how Cygnus Solutions builds the world's best compilers by sharing the source code. Learn why venture capitalists are eagerly watching Red Hat Software, a company that gives its key product -- Linux -- away.For the first time in print, this book presents the story of the open- source phenomenon told by the people who created this movement.Open Sources will bring you into the world of free software and show you the revolution.

Author : Steve WEBER
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Page : 321 pages
File Size : 38,97 MB
Release : 2009-06-30
Category : Computers
ISBN : 0674044991

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Much of the innovative programming that powers the Internet, creates operating systems, and produces software is the result of "open source" code, that is, code that is freely distributed--as opposed to being kept secret--by those who write it. Leaving source code open has generated some of the most sophisticated developments in computer technology, including, most notably, Linux and Apache, which pose a significant challenge to Microsoft in the marketplace. As Steven Weber discusses, open source's success in a highly competitive industry has subverted many assumptions about how businesses are run, and how intellectual products are created and protected. Traditionally, intellectual property law has allowed companies to control knowledge and has guarded the rights of the innovator, at the expense of industry-wide cooperation. In turn, engineers of new software code are richly rewarded; but, as Weber shows, in spite of the conventional wisdom that innovation is driven by the promise of individual and corporate wealth, ensuring the free distribution of code among computer programmers can empower a more effective process for building intellectual products. In the case of Open Source, independent programmers--sometimes hundreds or thousands of them--make unpaid contributions to software that develops organically, through trial and error. Weber argues that the success of open source is not a freakish exception to economic principles. The open source community is guided by standards, rules, decisionmaking procedures, and sanctioning mechanisms. Weber explains the political and economic dynamics of this mysterious but important market development. Table of Contents: Preface 1. Property and the Problem of Software 2. The Early History of Open Source 3. What Is Open Source and How Does It Work? 4. A Maturing Model of Production 5. Explaining Open Source: Microfoundations 6. Explaining Open Source: Macro-Organization 7. Business Models and the Law 8. The Code That Changed the World? Notes Index Reviews of this book: In the world of open-source software, true believers can be a fervent bunch. Linux, for example, may act as a credo as well as an operating system. But there is much substance beyond zealotry, says Steven Weber, the author of The Success of Open Source...An open-source operating system offers its source code up to be played with, extended, debugged, and otherwise tweaked in an orgy of user collaboration. The author traces the roots of that ethos and process in the early years of computers...He also analyzes the interface between open source and the worlds of business and law, as well as wider issues in the clash between hierarchical structures and networks, a subject with relevance beyond the software industry to the war on terrorism. --Nina C. Ayoub, Chronicle of Higher Education Reviews of this book: A valuable new account of the [open-source software] movement. --Edward Rothstein, New York Times We can blindly continue to develop, reward, protect, and organize around knowledge assets on the comfortable assumption that their traditional property rights remain inviolate. Or we can listen to Steven Weber and begin to make our peace with the uncomfortable fact that the very foundations of our familiar "knowledge as property" world have irrevocably shifted. --Alan Kantrow, Chief Knowledge Officer, Monitor Group Ever since the invention of agriculture, human beings have had only three social-engineering tools for organizing any large-scale division of labor: markets (and the carrots of material benefits they offer), hierarchies (and the sticks of punishment they impose), and charisma (and the promises of rapture they offer). Now there is the possibility of a fourth mode of effective social organization--one that we perhaps see in embryo in the creation and maintenance of open-source software. My Berkeley colleague Steven Weber's book is a brilliant exploration of this fascinating topic. --J. Bradford DeLong, Department of Economics, University of California at Berkeley Steven Weber has produced a significant, insightful book that is both smart and important. The most impressive achievement of this volume is that Weber has spent the time to learn and think about the technological, sociological, business, and legal perspectives related to open source. The Success of Open Source is timely and more thought provoking than almost anything I've come across in the past several years. It deserves careful reading by a wide audience. --Jonathan Aronson, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Southern California

Author : Heather Meeker
Publisher :
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 32,89 MB
Release : 2017
Category : License agreements
ISBN : 9781544737645

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Heather Meeker's Open Source for Business is a practical, readable guide to help businesspeople, engineers, and lawyers understand open source software licensing. Based on the author's twenty years as an attorney working at the crossroads of intellectual property and technology, this guide explains the legal and technical principles behind open source licensing so you can make the right decisions for your business. It offers tips on using open source, contributing to open source projects, and releasing your own open source software. You'll also get access to quick-reference tables on the major open source licenses, plus forms and checklists you can use to promote compliance. In this book, you will learn . . . * Why open source is not a "virus" * What the GPL is and how to handle it * When and how to conduct open source audits * What a user-friendly open source policy looks like * How to avoid and respond to open source enforcement claims * How to use open source to fight patent infringement claims * How to manage trademarks for open source products

Author : Dan Woods
Publisher : "O'Reilly Media, Inc."
Page : 236 pages
File Size : 50,57 MB
Release : 2005-07-27
Category : Computers
ISBN : 1449329942

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Open source software is changing the world of Information Technology. But making it work for your company is far more complicated than simply installing a copy of Linux. If you are serious about using open source to cut costs, accelerate development, and reduce vendor lock-in, you must institutionalize skills and create new ways of working. You must understand how open source is different from commercial software and what responsibilities and risks it brings. Open Source for the Enterprise is a sober guide to putting open source to work in the modern IT department. Open source software is software whose code is freely available to anyone who wants to change and redistribute it. New commercial support services, smaller licensing fees, increased collaboration, and a friendlier platform to sell products and services are just a few of the reasons open source is so attractive to IT departments. Some of the open source projects that are in current, widespread use in businesses large and small include Linux, FreeBSD, Apache, MySQL, PostgreSQL, JBOSS, and Perl. These have been used to such great effect by Google, Amazon, Yahoo!, and major commercial and financial firms, that a wave of publicity has resulted in recent years, bordering on hype. Large vendors such as IBM, Novell, and Hewlett Packard have made open source a lynchpin of their offerings. Open source has entered a new area where it is being used as a marketing device, a collaborative software development methodology, and a business model. This book provides something far more valuable than either the cheerleading or the fear-mongering one hears about open source. The authors are Dan Woods, former CTO of TheStreet.com and a consultant and author of several books about IT, and Gautam Guliani, Director of Software Architecture at Kaplan Test Prep & Admissions. Each has used open source software for some 15 years at IT departments large and small. They have collected the wisdom of a host of experts from IT departments, open source communities, and software companies. Open Source for the Enterprise provides a top to bottom view not only of the technology, but of the skills required to manage it and the organizational issues that must be addressed. Here are the sorts of questions answered in the book: Why is there a "productization gap" in most open source projects? How can the maturity of open source be evaluated? How can the ROI of open source be calculated? What skills are needed to use open source? What sorts of open source projects are appropriate for IT departments at the beginner, intermediate, advanced, and expert levels? What questions need to be answered by an open source strategy? What policies for governance can be instituted to control the adoption of open source? What new commercial services can help manage the risks of open source? Do differences in open source licenses matter? How will using open source transform an IT department? Praise for Open Source for the Enterprise:"Open Source has become a strategic business issue; decisions on how andwhere to choose to use Open Source now have a major impact on theoverall direction of IT abilities to support the business both withcapabilities and by controlling costs. This is a new game and onegenerally not covered in existing books on Open Source which continue toassume that the readers are 'deep dive' technologists, Open Source for the Enterprise provides everyone from business managers to technologistswith the balanced view that has been missing. Well worth the time toread, and also worth encouraging others in your enterprise to read as well." ----Andy Mulholland - Global CTO Capgemini "Open Source for the Enterprise is required reading for anyone workingwith or looking to adopt open source technologies in a corporateenvironment. Its practical, no-BS approach will make sure you're armedwith the information you need to deploy applications successfully (aswell as helping you know when to say "no"). If you're trying to sell opensource to management, this book will give you the ammunition you need.If you're a manager trying to drive down cost using open source, thisbook will tell you what questions to ask your staff. In short, it's aclear, concise explanation of how to successfully leverage open sourcewithout making the big mistakes that can get you fired." ----Kevin Bedell - founding editor of LinuxWorld Magazine

Author : Andrew M. St. Laurent
Publisher : "O'Reilly Media, Inc."
Page : 208 pages
File Size : 35,65 MB
Release : 2004-08-16
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 0596005814

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The book wraps up with a look at the legal effects--both positive and negative--of open source/free software licensing.

Author : Simon Phipps
Publisher : "O'Reilly Media, Inc."
Page : 25 pages
File Size : 19,59 MB
Release : 2012-07-12
Category : Computers
ISBN : 1449341187

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So you're thinking of creating an open source community around your code? Here are some things you ought to know before you make your plans too firm. Community Types: There is no single "open source community." Rather, there are many groups of people gathered around many free software commons. Those gatherings are themselves of several different types; you really need to understand those differences. Payment at the Point of Value: Open source is of course free software. But the freedom you're finding brings you value varies depending on the role you play with respect to the software. "Free" doesn't mean the same to everyone. Open Core Is Bad For You: The "open core" business model is popular with VC-funded startup companies but does not deliver the core freedoms from which lasting business value for customers is derived. Transparency and Privacy: The key success factor in an open source community is the equality of all the participants. A strong community is characterized by high levels of transparency about the project coupled with strong respect for the privacy of the participants. Read why you should not impose your business model on anyone.