Let's start with the basics:
- FOSS is more prevalent than most people think
- FOSS is understood by a wider audience than most people realize
- There is more information about how to govern FOSS than most people aware of
- There are more organizations capable of helping FOSS users to succeed than most people realize
- The FOSS ecosystem is still evolving and there's still plenty to learn
Yet the majority of non-developers that I talk to in large organizations see FOSS governance as totally uncharted territory; an abyss for which there is no return....
So my personal goal for this site is simple:
- This site aims to aggregate all the available knowledge on the topic of FOSS governance.
- This site aims to facilitate discussion and a common understanding as to what the "best practices" are with regard to managing FOSS within an enterprise, institution, or government.
This site should be a Web2.0 community somewhere way down that long tail. Not a great many people find FOSS software governance to be an interesting or particularly compelling topic. But for those of us that do, this should be a very useful site.
On that note, to make this site all that it can be we need your help! If there is a book, or a whitepaper, or a webinar etc. that you've found helpful in understanding FOSS governance, and you don't see it already listed, please let us know about it. If there is a problem you're trying to solve regarding the use of FOSS in your organization, or you have a question around how others deal with a particular FOSS related issue, please post it on one of the forums for discussion. Leveraging each other's knowledge and experiences will make us all more confident, and comfortable in our use of, and participation in, this tremendous resource known as the Free and Open Source Software Community
I look forward to our journey together.