A full day seminar presented by Bruce Perens, Parens, LLC, Berkley, CA. This workshop is being coordinated by Dr. Atish Sinha, Associate Professor of Management Information Systems at the School of Business Administration, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee.

Overview

What is Open Source? Much more than low-cost software, its a means for global collaboration that develops powerful software economically, and puts your business in control of your software rather than the software in control of the business. In this one day-day program, Bruce Perens will equip managers and technologists with the tools necessary to make sound, justifiable decisions on where, when, why, and how to use Open Source software, and what software to use.

Topics

1. overview of open source This talk presents the popular Open Source software programs and how businesses are using them successfully. The common Open Source licenses are presented, with their rationale and the legal issues that must be taken into account when using them. There will be discussion of how Open Source software is produced, how its communities operate, and what motivates its creators. 2. open source in economic terms This talk explains the economic role of Open Source in business. Other commentators have been confused about the position of Open Source, referring to it as "communist" or even "utopian." I will demonstrate in 10 simple slides how Open Source functions as a beneficial component of conventional capitalistic economic systems. 3. MOVING FROM UNIX TO LINUX OR BSD Many businesses have already built the Linux expertise they need, and dont know it yet. I will show why system administrators can move from Unix to Linux with little or no training, as can many programmers. I will show the expected training load where the tools differ, as they would if a programmer is expected to move from another GUI to GNOME or KDE/Qt, or from another database to MySQL or PostgreSQL. 4. BUILDING AN OPEN SOURCE POLICY FOR YOUR COMPANY I created the Open Source policy for HP, and have deployed a similar policy at two other "Top 100" companies as well as a number of smaller companies and organizations since leaving HP. I present the elements of a corporate Open Source policy and a corporate Open Source Review Board. The policies are designed to avoid litigation, preserve proprietary copyrighted property, and use Open Source effectively to effect the companys strategic goals. 5. OPEN SOURCE AND THE LAW This talk focuses on legal issues around Open Source. I will go over the SCO case, license issues, security and copyright infringement matters, legal issues of industry standards such as patent-farming and so-called "reasonable and non-discriminatory licensing," the Bayh-Dole Act and its effect upon public access to academic research, including software, and even a little bit about the effect of intellectual property law on public health. 6. OPEN CLINIC This is your chance to bring your own questions and ideas to an Open Source expert. Is there a hidden "gotcha" in your Linux strategy? Bruce Perens will bring his expertise to bear upon it.

About the speaker

Bruce Perens is co-founder of the Open Source movement in computer software. He published his first Free Software, the Electric Fence malloc() debugger, in 1987, and has been a leading Linux developer and spokesperson since 1993. Perens is a Senior Research Scientist for the Cyber Security Policy Institute at George Washington University. He is the Series Editor of "Bruce Perens Open Source Series" published by Prentice Hall PTR. The complete text of all 10 books has been released under an Open Source license. He is a member of the board of directors of Open Source Risk Management, a new company that provides indemnification for users of Open Source software against software patent litigation. He operates the consulting firm Perens LLC. For two years, he was Senior Global Strategist for Open Source for HP.

Who should Attend?

Information Technology staff and managers who have an interest in Open Source Systems.

Coordinator

This technology event is being coordinated by Dr. Atish Sinha, Associate Professor of Management Information Systems at the School of Business Administration, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.