Open Source Philosophy, Law, and Practice

Many of us work with open source software. Some of us swear by it. Let's talk about what open source means, both as a philosophy, and as a concrete legal framework. What are the differences between the open source licenses? When should you open source your code? When is your code your own –or your clients? What are common courtesies in the open source community? What's the best way to get involved in an open source project? Any fun/frustrating stories contributing to projects? When is proprietary software better?

Greg Grossmeier (http://creativecommons.org/staff#greggrossmeier) from Creative Commons (http://creativecommons.org/) will be giving a remote talk and Q&A about Creative Commons and Open Source licenses.

Elliott J. R. Church (https://www.meetup.com/grwebdev/members/23401891/), an actual technology law attorney, will be talking about real court cases involving open source licenses and whether there are real risks to violating them.

Dave Brondsema from SourceForge (http://www.sourceforge.com) will talk how to get involved with an open source project, and how to successfully manage an open source project.