FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

"Open or Closed?” Forum Packs Waterloo Accelerator Centre

Crowd gathers to hear pros and cons of open source and proprietary/closed source software business models.

Greg DeKoenigsberg's white board after his talk

What happens when you ask one of the leading proponents of open source software commercialization a simple question? You get 12 more questions – all guaranteed to help you better understand your options.

“Open or Closed?” was the question C4 posed to Greg DeKoenigsberg, Senior Community Development Manager for Red Hat, one of the world's leading providers of Linux and open source technology. C4 wanted to help software business and academics understand the business model implications of choosing open source or proprietary/ closed source strategies for software commercialization.

DeKoenigsberg responded with a dozen questions of his own. These questions prompted attendees to consider their strategies and goals. His pithy questions, such as “Hetro or Homo?” and “Will your software out live you?” drew out the distinctions between the open source and proprietary software (a list of the questions follows this article).

For example, “Hetro or Homo” looked at the challenges a heterogeneous user base compared to a homogeneous user base. DeKoenigsberg’s conclusion was that the more heterogeneous your user base, the more your software will benefit from the community input of an open source model.

DeKoenigsberg’s dynamic and thought provoking lecture started a half-day session devoted to software commercialization. It was attended by approximately a hundred members of the software community from across Southwest Ontario, ranging from start-up companies to academic researchers to government economic development representatives.

DeKoenigsberg was followed by a presentation on the legal issues to consider in commercializing software by Anthony de Fazekas of Miller Thomson LLP.

The morning closed with a panel discussion between three Ontario companies each using proprietary, open source and hybrid strategies. Moderated by Evan Leibovitch, Director of CLUE- Canadian Association for Open Source, the panel focused on the business implications and experience of open source.

Panelist Tom Lee of Maplesoft indicated that even a proprietary software company, such as Maplesoft, has to take account of the open source movement and learn how to co-exist with it. He pointed to aspects of Maplesoft’s that are “somewhat open” as examples of Maplesoft’s adaptation to the growing open source movement. He was joined by Perry Roach, CEO of Netsweeper and Jonas Brandon, Director of Business Development for ePresence.

Attendees concluded the session with a vigorous round of questions for the speakers. At the close of the forum its was clear that many had an expanded understanding of the implications of open source on software commercialization.

Greg DeKoenigsberg’s 12 Questions:

• Do you want to create perfect software?
• Do you want to create modular software?
• How open do you want to be?
• Who are your lead users?
• Homo or hetero? Is your user base heterogeneous or homogeneous?
• Fail properly?
• Do you want to get rich or make a living?
• Where will you find talent?
• Do you have a leader?
• Will your software outlive you?
• Are you creating intellectual property or intellectual capital?
• Are you part of the software industry or a software society?

Greg DeKoenigsberg’s Must Reads

• Baldwin & Clark – Architecture of Participation
  
• Eric Von Hippel – Democratization of Innovation
  
• In re. Bilski – Wikipedia article and U.S. Court Opinion
  
• Karl Fogel – Producing Open Source Software

Thank You to our Sponsors

MTech and the Ontario Centres of Excellence

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