OSS is not for free

By Philipp Ahmann of Bosch TOP97
Time: 13:30 Room: S4

Abstract

Open-source software is not for free - the less you give, the more it costs. This may sound contradictory, but can become especially true for those ignoring the differences between an open source community and an commercially contracted software provider.

As projects and product development are typically driven by schedule, resources, and costs, it sounds logical for a project manager to take quick-wins by selecting existing open-source software components, during product development phase. However, the total cost of software components over lifetime and the impact a bad package selection can have, are easily underestimated. It will become even more severe, if software gets locally modified and maintained without upstreaming to the original source.

Additionally, the talk explains why there is (typically) no way around open source from a project manager perspective and which additionally benefits are created beside cost, content and schedule improvements.

Biography

Philipp Ahmann is a technical business development manager at Robert Bosch GmbH with focus on Open Source activities. He represents the ELISA project of the Linux Foundation as technical steering committee chair and is a member of the Linux Foundation Europe Advisory Board. He has more than 10 years of experience in the field of Linux automotive SW base platforms acting in multiple roles.
Currently he contributes to a project focusing on embedded Linux in industrial applications and wider IoT scope.