Is FOSS software in danger as creators cannot find sustainable income from them?

1. FOSS is in Jeopardy
Jamie Allen

2. Contributors to open source

3. Who gets paid to write open source?

4. 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

5. However…
● It’s hard to sell free software

6. 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

7. 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”

8. FOSS enterprise offerings
● ?aaS
● Monitoring
● Production tooling
● Support contracts
● Commercial licenses
● Indemnity and warranties
● Minimal services

9. Competition for revenue
● Each FOSS company is competing for finite
budget
● Meanwhile, large traditional ISVs have
massive legacy contracts

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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?

13. 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?

14. Why Scala is different

15. 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

16. 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

17. Comparison of support
Language Academia Community Corporate Enterprise Government
Scala
Clojure
Go
Groovy ?
Java
Javascript ?
Pony

18. 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

19. 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?

20. 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

21. BountySource.com

22. 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

23. 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

24. Thank you!
Questions?