FOSS is in Jeopardy

Jamie Allen

Contributors to open source

Who gets paid to write open source?

Enterprise support is key

● Many organizations won’t consider using FOSS solutions without it

● Allows key contributors to earn a living while building the projects they love

● Provides stable releases for everyone

However…

● It’s hard to sell free software

Is VC money helping?

● There is nothing wrong with Venture Capitalists● Without their investment, many projects would

never have come as far as they have

Investors & customers want different things

● Customers: “I just want someone here who can make sure things are okay”

● Investors: “Be a product company for a higher valuation”

FOSS enterprise offerings

● ?aaS● Monitoring● Production tooling● Support contracts● Commercial licenses● Indemnity and warranties● Minimal services

Competition for revenue

● Each FOSS company is competing for finite budget

● Meanwhile, large traditional ISVs have massive legacy contracts

Impact

● FOSS enterprise support companies cannot focus on their communities as much as they wish they could

● Feature roadmap has to support the enterprise customer

● The community feels left out

FOSS companies must grow

● This can only come from providing what customers want: SERVICES

● FOSS companies should sell services until they reach profitability and can fund the enterprise features existing customers actually want

Global systems integrators

● A long-standing point of contention between FOSS creators and the SI community

● They must invest in training their people● They have the vendor relationships● How do we incentivize them?● Boutique services firms are the best channel for

help, can they be absorbed in a meaningful way into the FOSS company for scale?

Wampler’s conjecture

● What is the impact if we can’t change?● Will mature OSS only come from companies

who open source their own libraries● Who wins?

Why Scala is different

Winter is coming

● Several large corporations will vie for control of Scala and other critical path FOSS projects

● Scala Center is insurance for the community

We need a way to support FOSS

● But what about other projects and languages?● Some beautiful projects are trending poorly in

adoption and support● Some have the support but no longer focus on

the community● Some have lost enterprise support, possibly

stunting adoption growth

Comparison of supportLanguage Academia Community Corporate Enterprise Government

Scala

Clojure

Go

Groovy ?

Java

Javascript ?

Pony

But what about the ecosystem?

● Key projects must be sponsored● Beyond consulting dollars for creators● Hiring the creators and keeping them to

themselves is not the answer

Are coalitions the key?

● If so, how do we fund them?● Do we become limited to only supporting their

offerings?● What about high-value independents?● The enterprise doesn’t want to have to manage

infinite support contracts● Is it enough?

Can we create a site to help?

● Online checkout via a corporate-friendly funding site

● Give recognition and some level of priority to those who support

● Allows project owners to hire help and remain community focused

BountySource.com

Vendor Management

● Large corporations need to have approved vendors

● Global SIs and big vendors have these relationships in place

● We may still need a bridge

We need to support the ecosystem

● Scala’s success is not just because of money, but also because of the work of the community

● Enterprises must support the projects upon which they depend

● We must work together to help them do so

Thank you!

Questions?