Increasingly companies are part of the open source ecosystem and are starting new projects and contributing to projects.  And community members often feel that open source is becoming more commercial and driven by companies.  How can we learn to work together and coexist?  What can we do to increase our understanding of each other and find common ground and bridges?  We need to work together more than ever as open source grows.  Come and discuss with me, idea for how we can support the continued healthy evolution and momentum of open 

1. Building Bridges Across
Company and
Community
Nithya A. Ruff
Sr. Director, Open Source Practice
Comcast
@nithyaruff

2. Introducing Myself
• Started working on how companies could
work with Open Source at SGI – 1998
• Successfully open sourced Tripwire for Linux
and started a community - 2000
• Led a successful commercial embedded
Linux distribution at Wind River – 2008
• Was a founding member of the Yocto Project
- 2010
• On the board of the Linux Foundation - 2016
• Co-leader at Women of OpenStack and
Women in OSS – 2015-2016
• Speaker on Company and Diverse
Communities
2
@nithyaruff

3. 3
Is Open Source
Experiencing Growing
Pains?
OSS has become too
commercial
Tension between
Ideological and Commercial
Not mature enough for
desktop
Not stable enough
@nithyaruff

4. 78% Companies run or use Open Source Software,
3% don’t use Open Source in any way
With SW eating the world,
Lots of new companies becoming SW companies today
Majority of communities have
company developers and contribution
Millions of OSS projects in every area
No Surprises
@nithyaruff

5. Companies and Communities are very different
@nithyaruff

6. @nithyaruff

7. • Open-source software (OSS) is computer software
with its source code made available with a license in
which the copyright holder provides the rights to study,
change, and distribute the software to anyone and for
any purpose.
• [1] Open-source software may be developed in a
collaborative public manner. According to scientists who
studied it, open-source software is a prominent
example of open collaboration.
Open Source Communities Definitions
@nithyaruff

8. Every Community Is Different
@nithyaruff

9. 9C O N F I D E N T I A L A N D P R O P R I E T A R Y C O M C A S T I N F O R M A T I O N
U S I N G O P E N
S O U R C E
C O N T R I B U T I N G
TO O P E N
S O U R C E
O P E N S O U R C E
M E T H O D S
S TA R T I N G N E W
P R O J E C T S
Companies in Community

10. Community 3.0?
Scale
Structure
Governance
Operations
Onboarding
Community Management
@nithyaruff

11. How Do You Build Bridges?

12. Personal Lessons
• Understand before you
are understood
• Value differences and
strengths
• Respect each other
• Open communications
• Relationships = work
• Don’t lose sense of self
• You are responsible for
your happiness
• Build on common
purpose
@nithyaruff

13. Company Participation in Community
Respect Contribute Comply
Transparency Not Control
Provide Support

14. Community Growth
Presentation title (optional)14
•More than just code
-Documentation
-UI
-Testing
•Onboarding New and
Diverse Members of
the Community
•More structured
community
management and
formats

15. Building Bridges is Critical
•It is important to the future of this wonderful
movement and way of working
•It is important to our growth and survival
•Let’s sit down together and see how we can
build bridges

16. Building Bridges Across Company and Community
Nithya A. Ruff
@nithyaruff

17. Abstract
Increasingly companies are part of the open source ecosystem and
are starting new projects and contributing to projects. And community
members often feel that open source is becoming more commercial
and driven by companies. How can we learn to work together and
coexist? What can we do to increase our understanding of each other
and find common ground and bridges? We need to work together
more than ever as open source grows. Come and discuss with me,
idea for how we can support the continued healthy evolution and
momentum of open

18. Resources
• https://opensource.guide Guide to starting a new project and to contribute to OSS
• http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596001087.do The Cathedral and the Bazaar
• https://www.blackducksoftware.com/2016-future-of-open-source The Future of OSS Survey
• http://events.linuxfoundation.org/sites/events/files/slides/Commercial%20Products%20with%20OSS%
20v1-0.pdf (Delivering High Quality Products based on OSS)
Presentation title (optional)18