Open Source means sharing on many different levels. To facilitate an open exchange of ideas on the impact and future of open source software, London School of Economics (LSE) & Political Science, Department of Management; IBM; and OpenForum Europe jointly hosted a one-day event last month filled with roundtable discussions exploring a range of topics relating to the future of open source and whether it is poised to become a strongly disruptive force over the next decade.
"Open Source: The Fuel for Innovation," held at LSE in Central London, drew a distinguished group of academic, government, and business leaders. Participants from organizations including BT, Red Hat, Canonical, IBM, Alfresco, Citrix, Novell, Deloitte, 451 Group, GNOME Foundation, The Bathwick Group, and the European Commission attended the roundtable event to discuss topics such as the benefits of open source on the TCO equation, the challenges open source presents, and what big changes in open source are on the horizon, including an examination of how free and open source licenses may evolve and what the future holds for open source in the cloud.
The event was moderated by Tony Cornford, senior lecturer, Department of Management, LES and Political Science; with co-moderators Bob Sutor, vice president, Open Source & Linux, IBM; and Graham Taylor, chief executive and co-founder of OpenForum Europe.
Taylor kicked off the group discussions with a conversation about open source in today's business climate, Cornford led attendees in considering business models to innovate with open source, and Sutor moderated a discussion about innovations in open source looming in the near to distant future and the impact they will have.