The supply-side value of widely-used Open Source software is estimated to be worth $4.15 billion, and the demand-side value is much larger, at $8.8 trillion. And yet, maintaining a healthy business while producing Open Source software feels more like an art than a science.
Practical Open Source is a program developed to facilitate the discussions about doing business with and for Open Source. The 2024 edition consists of:
A series of blog posts on OpenSource.net, to be published between July and October
A panel discussion at All Things Open, in October
If you run a business producing Open Source products or your company’s revenue depends on Open Source in any way, we want to hear your insights on:
How you balance the needs of paying customers with those of partners and non-paying users
How you organize your sales, marketing, product and engineering teams to deal with your communities
What makes you decide where to draw the lines between pushing fixes upstream and maintaining a private fork
Where do you see the value of copyleft in software-as-a-service
Why you chose a specific license for your product offering and how do you deal with external contributions
What trends do you see in the ecosystem and what effects are these having
We want to hear about these and other topics, from personal experiences and research. Our hope is to provide the business ecosystem with accessible resources to better understand the Open Source business problem space and find solutions.
How it works
We’d like to promote articles that further the collective knowledge. We want to hear stories from protagonists, people who balance community and commercial interests every day and share them to the widest possible base. After publishing the articles on OpenSource.net we’re going to have a panel at All Things Open.
Join the program
You’ll send your proposals as pitches to OpenSource.net, a title and abstract (300 words max) and a short bio.
Our staff will review the pitches and get back to you, selecting as many articles as deemed interesting for publication.
We’ll also pick the authors of five of the most interesting articles to be speakers at a panel discussion at ATO, on October 29 in Raleigh, NC. Full conference passes will be offered.
Authors of accepted pitches to write a full article (1,200-1,500 words) to be published leading up to ATO.
We’ll also select other pitches worth developing into full-length articles but, for any reason, didn’t fit into the panel discussion.
Note: Please read and follow the guidelines carefully before submitting your proposal.
Submission Requirements
Applications should be submitted via web form
Add a title and a pitch, 300 words maximum
Include a brief bio, highlighting why you’re the right person to write about this topic
Submissions should be well-structured, clear and concise
Evaluation Criteria
Relevance to the topic
Originality and uniqueness of the submission
Clarity and coherence of argumentation
Quality of examples and case studies
Presenter’s expertise and track record in the field
Although the use of generative AI is permitted, pitches evidently written by AI won’t be considered
Timeline
Submission deadline: June 17, 2024
Notification of acceptance: June 28, 2024
Accepted authors must submit their full article by July 26, 2024
Articles will be published on OpenSource.net between Aug 12 and October 10, 2024
The authors of the selected articles will be invited to join a panel by Aug 12, 2024
Event dates: Oct 28, 29, 2024 (Panel will be held on the 29th –remote participation is possible)
What to Expect
Your submission will be reviewed by a panel of experts in the field
If accepted, you will be asked to produce a full article that will be published at OpenSource.net
We look forward to receiving your submission!
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Source: opensource.org