Biografia del relatore

David N. Welton (http://dedasys.com/davidw) lives and works in Padova, Italy as a consultant specialized in open source technologies (Linux, Apache, Tcl, Python, C, etc...) providing programming, training and strategic consulting services. He is an active participant in the Tcl comunity, has been a part of the Debian project since 1997, and has been the Vice President (cat herder?) of Apache Tcl with the Apache Software Foundation since 2001.

Abstract

It is by now evident that open source is a very successful phenomenon and is a force to be reckoned with in the world of information technology. The value of millions of lines of source code which are free to use, modify, and even resell is staggering. It is also clear that this movement is different in several fundamental ways. Open Source is not just another development methodology - it also has important social and economic implications for how software is created, distributed and utilized. Furthermore, the individuals that comprise the "open source movement" are a disparate group that in many cases do not have a great deal in common outside their love of free, high quality software. Thus, we have a tremendous amount of value in the hands of a sometimes ill-defined and heterogeneous community that ranges from the the activists of the World Social Forum to globe-spanning multinationals such as IBM.

The software produced by this community is of course free and easy to obtain, but for individuals, businesses and organizations with deeper requirements, the question of how to interact with the world of open source software is an important one. In the business world, most firms play according to well-defined rules, and given enough resources, most anything can be made to happen. In some open source circles, money is not the driving factor, and attempts to "buy your way in" may be looked upon with suspicion.

This presentation seeks to discuss first of all, the nature of the open source community, and various groups that exist within it.

Knowledge of the goals and motivations of these people is critical to gaining an understanding of how to work with them. We will then discuss different motivations and cases of firms becoming involved with open source software, and the lessons to be learned from their successes and failures, and attempt to draw some conclusions about the best practices for successfully interacting with the open source communit