Open Source Software:
Recent and Future
Changes, Challenges, and
Conundra
Henry W. (Hank) Jones III
Intersect Technology Consulting -andLaw Office of Henry W. Jones, III
Austin, Texas, USA
Software Technology Forum, von Neumann
Society, Budapest, Hungary
7 April, 2005
Today’s Scope & Agenda
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10.
Orientation and Perspective
Scope Today
Themes
Briefly, What Was Open Source Software?
Briefly, What Is OSS Now?
What Is Changing in OSS?
What Are Key Risks for OSS Users &
Advocates?
Briefly, What Are OSS Management Best
Practices?
Briefly, “Homework” Resource Suggestions
Q&A
Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
2
1. Orientation for Me: Audience OSS Experience?
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Your Role(s) re. OSS?
OSS Development Fluency Now?
OSS Product Management Fluency Now?
Audited Your Company’s OSS Usage?
Audited Any Supplier’s OSS Current Usage?
Audited Any Business Partner’s OSS Usage?
Know An “Awkward OSS Surprise” Story?
Deployed OSS Policy? Upgraded OSS Policy?
Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
3
2. Scope: Out Of Scope Today
Which Linux Distribution is Best?
 OSS Quality/Maturity Debates
 OSS Total Cost of Ownership Debates
 OSS Security Debates
 Particular OSS Admin./Operations/Tools
 “Open Standards” Challenges
 Older “Software Law” Riddles: “Mandatory
Licensing”; “Patent Pools”, “Look & Feel”,
“Clean Rooming”, etc.
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Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
4
3. Themes for Today (Learning About OSS
Through Global Literature and Music)
Tristan und Isolde
 ¿Es la vida el sueno, o el sueno la vida?
 “/What a long, strange trip it’s been/”
 Do we “know jack” about OSS variations,
trends, vector speeds, and impacts?
 Who is “feeling the heat” from OSS?
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Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
5
3. Themes: Do You and Your Contacts Really “Know
Jack” Now About OSS Strategies and Processes?
Does Your or Your Contacts’ Worldview(s) Assume
Precise Planning, Personnel Following Corporate
Mandates, “Six Sigma,” “Command-and-Control,”
and Other Older Corporate Traditions?
Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
6
3. Themes: Do You & Your Contacts Really “Know
Jack” Now About Newer & Varying OSS Product
Development Styles & Distribution Channels?
Can Your New Software Development Projects and Products
Thrive and Survive Without Harnessing That
Rebellious, Creative, “DIY” (Do-It-Yourself) Spirit of
Innovative, Independent Engineers
and the OSS Movement?
Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
7
3. Themes: Who Is “Feeling The Heat”
From The OSS Movement? –
Just New-Style, Bleeding-Edge, Pure-Play
OSS Vendors, or Everybody?
Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
8
4. What Was OSS, Originally?
Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
9
4. OSS “Definition”: Key Attributes
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Disclose Raw Materials, Design, and Other
“Internals” (Source Code)
Let Customers, Resellers, and Everybody On
The Planet See and Comment
Permit Changes by Everybody
Permit Further Redistribution by Everybody
Share and Share Alike; Give-Back; “The
Commons”
Big Caveat: Approaches, Assumptions,
Vocabulary, Licenses, and Politics Vary Widely!
Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
10
4. OSS Potential Benefits
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Free (No Charge) (Code, Not Services)
Source Code “Freedom” (i.e., Availability =
Ability To Customize)
Ability To Assess Quality (In Theory)
Increased Speed To Deployment?
24/7 Global “Community” To Debug/Improve
Attracts Tech Talent (“Coolness” Factor)
Long-Term I.T. Architecture/Planning: Less
Vendor “Lock-In”
Evidence of Innovation?
Buffer to Offshoring/Outsourcing?
Favorable Marketplace Perceptions?
Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
11
4. What Was OSS?
Better Software Development Methodology?
 Customer Budget-Saver
 Customer Tool: Avoid Vendor Lock-In
 Individual Programmers: Skill & Career
Development Path
 Vendors: Speed To Market: New Competitive
Accelerator?
 Global Commerce: Another Impact of the
Robust Public Internet
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Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
12
4. What Is OSS Called Recently, In Business?
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Clayton Christiansen (Innovator’s Dilemma)
“... The development of open-source software is
increasingly dominated by corporate interests … to
make money.” - BusinessWeek online 8/13/04
“Open source’s influence is far greater than its
current market share … might suggest”
- Fortune magazine 4/6/04
“Open source continues to surge …”
“Tech Trends to Watch in 2004”, Fortune 12/30/03
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“… a broader issue that will not go away: how to
manage the meeting of two worlds of
programming. ...”
New York Times 6/14/03
Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
13
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5. What Is Open Source Now?
New Design/Development Methodology
New Career Path for Programmers
New Set of Software Products and Suppliers
New Worldview
New Way Customers Save Costs
New Impact on Pricing
New Set of Ambiguous Licenses
Tangle of New Intellectual Property Issues
New Educating of Customers/Prospects
New Training For R&D Folks & Execs.
New Disclosure, Compliance, & Risks
New Business Model
Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
14
5. Key OSS Attributes: Who Is Doing It Now?
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No Longer Just Geeks & Radical Specialty Vendors
Heavy Hitters: IBM, C.A., H-P, Sun, PalmSource,
WebMethods, Apple, Novell, Sybase, SGI, etc., etc.
Re-Purposed Older Proprietary Products
Wall St. Journal 7/8/04: “More Old Software Is ‘Open
Sourced’ ”
New Competitor Category: Non-Profit Foundations
Even Microsoft Does It
Your Company Already? (Your Employees?) (Are
You Really Sure?)
Your Suppliers? (Are You Sure?)
Your Business Partners? (Are You Sure?)
Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
15
5. Key OSS Attributes: How It’s Done (Generally)
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Open Prior Technology and Product Plan
Secrets To Market & All Comers
Open Decision-Making Visibility To Participants
Open Decision-Making Inclusion To Some
Participants (Varies)
Grant New Rights To Recipients (Varies!)
Caveat: Lots of Variation, Confusion, &
De Facto Fluidity, Plus Recent Explicit
Experimentation
Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
16
5. What Do OSS Activities Look Like Now?:
One Actual/Historical View
Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
17
5. Open Source Technology Map: Note Steady
Progress Now To Legitimization and Mainstream
Note: 2 year old survey data shown,
so shift each box right two clicks!
Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
18
6. OSS Changes: How Is OSS Being Developed
These Days? (Tools & Processes)
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“Anarchy Subsiding”?: Trends Toward New
Disciplines, Disclosures, & Quality?
Changes: New Testing/QA Discipline (Varies)
Changes: New “Provenance” Concerns (e.g.,
“Contributor License Agreement”) (Varies)
Changes: Better Version Control Tools?
Changes: Assigned Salaried Corporate
Employees, Not Just Volunteer Anonymous
Geeks
Changes: Vendors Pitching “Professional” OSS
Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
19
Software engineering &
related disciplines (academic view)
Software
Engineering
Computer
Science
Information
Systems
Management
Computer
Engineering
Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
Excerpted from November 2004
IEEE SIGSOFT slides 20
 Crowston, Howison and others
OSS Participants (1 View)
Contributors
Inactive Users
Active
Users
Developers/
Leaders
Community
Illustration is Figure 1, titled “A Very Abstract Picture of an Open
Source Project”), from Crowston, Kevin and Howison, James
(2004) “The social structure of Free and Open Source software”
(University of) Syracuse FLOSS research working paper,
available at http://floss.syr.edu (and at http://opensource.mit.edu)
Henry W. (Hank) Jones, III
Intersect Technology Consulting &
Law Office of Henry W. Jones, III
2002 Mountain View Rd., Austin, TX 78703 USA
memphishank@aol.com
Initiators/
Owners/
Core Developers
Software:
- Source Code
- Binary Files
- Documentation Artifacts
OSS Participants (Speaker’s View)
Contributors
Important
Influencers:
“Community”
- Employers of
Contributors
- Customers /
Users
- Competitors
- Management
Gurus
-Tools Providers
- Investors
- Government
Regulators
- Others
Original illustration is Figure 1, titled “A Very Abstract Picture of an Open
Source Project”), from Crowston, Kevin and Howison, James (2004) “The
social structure of Free and Open Source software” (University of)
Syracuse FLOSS research working paper, available at
http://floss.syr.edu (and at http://opensource.mit.edu)
Henry W. (Hank) Jones, III
Intersect Technology Consulting &
Law Office of Henry W. Jones, III
2002 Mountain View Rd., Austin, TX 78703 USA
memphishank@aol.com; derivative additions  2005
Inactive Users
Active
Users
Developers/
Leaders
Initiators/
Owners/
Core Developers
Software:
- Source Code
- Binary Files
- Documentation Artifacts
6. OSS Changes: Tech Industry Impacts:
Revenue Impacts Are Emerging & Accelerating
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Microsoft’s S.E.C. Filings
“Is open source essentially a disruption that will
cause the software business in general to be
less profitable 10 years from now than it is
today?”
quoting Ballmer, “Low Prices And High Complexity”, Information Week, 8/30/04 p. 47
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“Government Prospects/Buyers May Defect”
8/9/04 Quest Software 10-Q
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Prospects’ Perceptions = “Free, Almost As
Good, and Everybody Else Does It”?
Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
23
6. OSS Changes: Tech Industry Impacts:
Costs Impacts Are Emerging & Accelerating
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CIO Magazine 3/03: “The CIO Without OSS
Procurement Strategy in ’03 = A Fool”
Indian Outsourcing Services Co. C.E.O. to Wall
Street: Services Spending Juiced By Increasing
OSS Use Trends
OSS = Offshoring Alternative to Cost
Containment for Software Vendors?
“Nearly Everybody Does It”?: Increasing “Safety
In Numbers” in OSS Component Deployment
Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
24
6. OSS Changes:
Customer Requirements & Satisfaction
Tech Customers Do OSS Due Diligence
 Non-Tech Customers Asking Questions and
Educating Sourcing Professionals
 I.T. Buyers Groups Adding OSS to Agendas
 Leading Non-Tech Users Adopting OSS
Filtering, Disclosure, and Opt-Out Policies
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Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
25
6. OSS Changes: More Oversight Soon?:
Software Design/Development Before OSS:
Supposedly, Processes Primarily Sequential
Plan & CostEstimate
Design
Test
Document
Manufacture
Market
Sell/License
Product Lifecycle
Develop
Design
Develop
Test
Document
Customize
Install
Manufacture
Integrate
Support
Market/
Sell/Ship
Henry W. (Hank) Jones, III Intersect Technology Consulting & Law Office of Henry W. Jones, III, Austin, TX, memphishank@aol.com; © HWJ 2005
6. OSS Changes: More Oversight Soon?:
Software Design/Development After OSS:
Processes More Simultaneous & Blurred!?
Design
Document
Manufacture
Market
Sell/License
Customize
Product Lifecycle
Test
Manufacture
?
Design
Develop
Develop
Sell?
Test
Ship?
Install
Integrate
Support
Henry W. (Hank) Jones, III Intersect Technology Consulting & Law Office of Henry W. Jones, III, Austin, TX, memphishank@aol.com; © HWJ 2005
7. OSS = New Set of Risks
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“Inertia Is Inadequate”: Lack of Prior-Company
Precedent in Processes
Blended R&D/Experimentation and Production
Changing “Legitimacy”/Acceptance
“Bar Being Raised”: At Least in U.S., New
Corporate Compliance, Disclosure & Risk
Management Standards “Learn By
Doing”/Shipping!?
“The Code Is The Documentation”
Some Coders Think “Lawyers = Fools; I.P. = A
Mere Obsolete Artifact” and “Management =
Fools; Technical Meritocracy Rules”
Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
28
7. What are OSS Risks?
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Who’s Accountable?: No “1 Throat To Choke”
Transitional Effort: Planning, Training, etc.
Lack of Management Awareness/Oversight?
Lack of Long-Term Support?
Project “Forks” (Splits)
Intellectual Property Infringement
Ambiguities in Licenses
Future Regulatory Constraints?
Security / “Malware”?
Novelty (FUD: “Fear, Uncertainty & Doubt”?)
Unfavorable Marketplace Perceptions?
Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
29
7. OSS Risks: Plenty of Litigation
(Contrary to Myth and Advocates’ Assumptions)
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SCO v. IBM, Novell, Red Hat, AutoZone, & Daimler-Benz
Are NOT Only OSS Litigation (Techies’ Myths Are Wrong)
Hungarian Involvement: Monotype v. Red Hat
Munich, Germany case
Speaker’s Client’s Suit v. Ex-Employees
MontaVista Software v. Lineo
Gracenote/CDDB v. Roxio/Adaptec and v. MusicMatch
Computer Associates v. Quest Software
Progress Software & NuSphere v. MySQL
Davidson & Assoc., Inc., d/b/a Blizzard Entertainment &
Vivendi Universal Games, Inc. v. bnetd.org, Internet
Gateway, Inc., Tim Jung, Ross Combs, & Rob Crittenden
DrewTech v. Society of Automotive Engineers
Others
Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
30
7. OSS Potential Risks: How Can Open Source
Enter Your Shop, Perhaps Unexpectedly?
Tech Vendors New OSS-Focused
Software Vendors
“Opening”
Older Products
Business
Partners
Your
Company
M.I.S. &
I.T. Services
Vendors, including
Systems Integrators
& Offshore Vendors
Hardware &
Peripherals
Vendors
Non-M.I.S.
Employees
Market Pressures
To Cut Costs &
Show Innovation
Component Suppliers
Independent
Contractors
OSS Support
Services
Vendors
Wireless Devices
Vendors’ Upstream
3d Party
Technical
Support
Web Hosting
Vendor’s
Infrastructure
“Skunkworks”
Projects
Henry W. (Hank) Jones, III
Intersect Technology Consulting &
Law Office of Henry W. Jones, III;
2002 Mountain View Rd., Austin, TX 78703
memphishank@aol.com; © HWJ 9/1705
8. What are OSS Best Practices?
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#0: “Think Really Different”
#1: Re-Assess Relationships and Processes
#2: Prepare Now To Dance “Open” Soon
#3: Educate Decision Makers & Influencers
#4: Create New OSS Policies and Processes
#5: Evaluate Others’ “Open” Outcomes
#6: Implement Risk Management Steps
#7: Do Personal OSS Homework
#8: For Technology Vendors, Conduct “Open
Source Planning Retreat”
Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
32
8. OSS Best Practice #0: “Think Really Different”
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It’s No Longer “OSS Is Just For Geeks”
OSS ≠ Either/Or (Not “OSS / Proprietary”)
It’s Not “OSS Versus Proprietary” (“Dual Paths”)
OSS ≠ Either/Or: Some Vendors “Opening”
Previously Proprietary Products
“No Such Thing As A Free Lunch” ≠ New Reality
“Proprietary” Might Have Some OSS Inside
Some OSS Can Go Proprietary Later
“We Don’t Know Jack”
Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
33
8. “Think Really Different”
So, Assume Continued Proprietary
(“Closed”) Products Dominance For
Many Markets
But, Watch For
Expanded
OSS Usage,
Even Opportunism
Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
Recognize That
There Will
Be Blends,
“Flavor” Choices,
Changes, &
Ambiguities!
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8. OSS Best Practice #1:
Re-Assess Relationships & Processes
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Don’t “Assume” You’re Not “Open” Now
What Are The Software Processes & Policies of
Your Customers, Business Partners, Investors,
and Other Key Parties?
Can OSS Believed Benefits Be Captured Safely
in Your Situation?
What Are Particular OSS Risks Here?
Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
35
8. OSS Best Practice #2:
Prepare Now To Dance “Open” Soon
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Envision Collective Adaptation: OSS Is MultiDisciplinary (Sourcing, M.I.S., Legal, Finance,
H.R., Sometimes P.R./Marketing Impacts)
Track Other Companies’ Open Announcements
Include OSS Advocate(s)
Buy Time/Acceleration and
Odds/Savvy/Precision By Using Outside
Veterans/Specialists/Expertise
Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
36
8. OSS Best Practice #3:
Educate Decision Makers and Their Influencers
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Nobody Likes Awkward Surprises
Show Them The Holes In Current Processes &
Policies
Show Them The Richard Stallman Photo
Show Them Scatter-Graphs Showing Actual
OSS Project Histories
Show Them Competitors’ S.E.C. Filings
Show Them OSS-Specific Litigation Pleadings
Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
37
8. OSS Best Practice #4:
New OSS Policies & Processes
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Update (Debug) Technology Vendor Policies
Identify and Manage Indirect Vendors
Update New Hiring & Recruiting Processes
Update R&D Employee Evaluation Standards
Compare New “Code of Conduct” at Citrix
Update I.P. Policies & Agreements
Update Email/Web Surfing Policy
Update Employee Moonlighting Policy
“Other”
Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
38
8. OSS Best Practice #5:
Evaluate Others’ “Open” Outcomes
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Breadth & Depth of OSS Myths
Mine S.E.C. and Other Disclosures
Assess and Quantity P.R./Marketing and H.R.
Results
Monitor Impacts on I.P. Assets, Evaluation, and
Enforcement
Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
39
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8. OSS Best Practice #6:
Implement New Risk Management Steps
Revise Procurement Processes/Documents
Revise Outbound Licensing/Distribution
“The Price of Freedom Is Eternal Vigilance”:
Allocate Staff Time to OSS Projects
“Embracing The (OSS) Community”: Earning
OSS Credibility Via OSS Project Participation
Consider OSS-Specific Insurance
DMZ in R&D?: Segregate OSS Assets?
Consider Self-Audits (For Vendors, With
Attorney-Client Non-Disclosure “Privilege”, Per
Likelihood of Finding OSS Problems)
Other
Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
40
8. OSS Best Practice #7:
Do Personal OSS Homework
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Attend a LUG (Linux Users Group)
Good “OSS 101” and “OSS History” Books
Do You Need “OSS Executive Coaching”?
“Tough Love” Reading: Litigation Pleadings,
OSS-Specific Tech. Vendor S.E.C. Disclosures
Video To Rent: “Revolution OS”
Articles by Speaker
Other
Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
41
8. OSS Best Practice #8: For Tech Vendors,
Conduct “Open Source Planning Retreat”
Remember “The Mythical Man-Month,” So
Start Your OSS Adaptation Now (“Later”
Will Be Too Late)
 Multi-Disciplinary Nature of OSS
Challenges Suggests Diverse Attendees
 Preparation: Agenda, Reading, Questions
 Facilitation by OSS Veteran Consultant for
Progress versus Chaos
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Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
42
9. Available OSS Homework Resources
Process Disclosures at Mozilla.org
 Excellent Books:
- Free For All
- Open Voices
- Rebel Code
- Others
 Excerpts from Varied S.E.C. Filings by
Increasing Number of Publicly Traded U.S.
Tech and Other Companies
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Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
43
9. Homework Resources: Articles by The
Speaker Available On The Web
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Article: Defective Contract Drafting and Administration
Triggered Litigation, Bad P.R., and Big Costs to LongStanding Publicly-Traded U.S. Software
Vendor/Publisher:
www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=6025 (Linux
Journal 8/02)
Article: OSS Impacts on Tech Mergers & Acquisitions:
www.softwarebusinessonline.com/newsletter2_march04.
htm#feature2
Article: Software Sales Teams OSS Impacts:
www.sterlinghoffman.com/cgibin/index.pl?p=newsletter/articles/article78.html
Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
44
10. Q&A
Thank You For Your Time and Interest
Good Luck!
(Though Hard Work
& Diverse Expertise Are Necessary
For Successful
OSS Analysis, Adaptation & Evolution)
Henry W. (Hank) Jones III, Esq.
Law Office of Henry W. Jones III and
Intersect Technology Consulting
2002 Mountain View Rd., Austin, Texas 78703 USA
memphishank@aol.com; US 512.695.4673
Copyright 2004 Henry W. (Hank) Jones III Esq. All Rights Reserved
45