QNX Hybrid Software Model

QNX Software Systems asked me to write about their new hybrid software licensing and development model. Here's the link to my article on their website.

The new QNX model blends open source practices with commercial incentives for embedded systems; opens their development process to customers and community alike; and stimulates market opportunities and design innovation.

While this model isn't entirely open source, QNX learned the benefits of open source from its involvement with Eclipse. QNX now wants to offer those open source benefits to its customers and business partners.

Much of my law and counseling practice involves assisting commercial companies to adopt open source in their software and their development practices--without necessarily giving away the crown jewels to their commercial competitors for free. This involves a strategy for giving to the commons and a strategy for reasonable withholding. The goal is develop a licensing plan for software that reflects and respects the ethics of the open source community, while honoring the responsibilities to customers, employees and shareholders to maintain a profitable commercial venture.

Read more at the link above or at the main QNX website.

Developing Commercial Products for Open Source Platforms

Here’s an article I wrote recently to help companies understand the licensing issues associated with building commercial products on open source platforms.

http://www.rosenlaw.com/CommercialProducts-on-OSS.pdf

I welcome comments.

First day in the blogosphere

I've finally decided to blog. Many of my friends and colleagues in the open source and technology world are doing it, so there must be something to it.

Perhaps I'll treat it as a diary, recording my daily thoughts. Perhaps I'll be more formal about my blog, recognizing that an attorney has special reasons to be careful about what he says. At least at first, though, I'll just explore writing this way, to see how it works for me. I may find this a more comfortable way to speak about the issues that concern me, particularly now that email has become a drudge.

Welcome to my blog. More soon....