We get a lot of questions about open source software. Today at our Boulder OpenCoffee Club meeting, we had a presentation by Doug Young regarding his thoughts on open source issues that developers face. It was a great discussion. (Unfortunately) every developer needs to keep their open source “house” in order and to that affect, I thought that I’d pass along some good links to those interested in the subject.
Doug highly recommends a book by Lawrence Rosen called “Open Source Licensing.” The very cool part is that the book is open source itself and available here for download. I took a quick look this afternoon at it and it looks great.
Another attendee this morning, Ari Newman wrote a cogent summary of this mornings highlights on his blog today. One interesting factoid that he brought to my attention was the availability of a software platform to keep track of one’s open source code. Check out OpenLogic, if you are curious.
Bottom line, know your licenses and don’t get caught surprised at the time someone performs due diligence on your company for a fundraise or acquisition.
