OSS Watch team blog

This is just a quick plug for a webinar that I will be running – with the kind assistance of JISC – next Wednesday (7th March) on the topic: “Choosing the right open source licence”. To quote the blurb:

There are many free and open source software licences, and while they all broadly attempt to facilitate the same things, they also have some differences. Some of the major differences can be grouped together into categories, and this talk acts as an introduction to these categories. Having attended this session, you should be able to understand which decisions you should take in order to select a licence for your code.

Delegates will take away an understanding of:

• the main categories of open source licences available
• the implications of choosing one for the future of your software

Also, advance notice that the week after, on Wednesday March 14th, OSS Watch’s Sander Van Der Waal will be asking: “How healthy is your open source community?“

To be viable, academic projects using open source software need to ensure that people continue to engage with their project beyond initial funding. Similarly, academic institutions and businesses seeking to adopt open source solutions developed as part of academic projects need to be sure they can do so without exposing themselves to unmanageable risk. By using the Software Sustainability Maturity Model, both businesses and academic users and developers can identify any weak points in their development and governance processes, and address them as appropriate. This session will provide the participants with the skills to assess the non-technical aspects of open source software development.

Having attended this session, you will be able to answer the question: “Can a business collaboration be built around this open source project?” You will understand how to evaluate the health of an open source community and plan for sustainable engagements with companies interested in developing products or services based on it.

I hope you can join us!