Open Source software today is often driven by a mix of volunteer contributors and corporate employees, together forming the communities around the projects. There are examples where appropriation of volunteer contributions by a commercial entity has led to defection of community members or to forks. For Free Software communities, striking the balance of influence of volunteer and commercial contributors is vital for their viability. This presentation will explain the measures the KDE project took to achieve such a balance, contrast that with the efforts of other projects and analyze what can be learned from it.

1. Companies are Community
Managing Trust in mixed commercial and volunteer
communities
Open Source Forum @ Cebit 2012
Mirko Boehm (mirko@kde.org)
Saturday, March 10, 12 1

2. Free Software
can be
commercial.
So what is the problem?
Saturday, March 10, 12 2

3. CWD: ~
miroslav@silberpfeil: >whoami
- KDE Contributor since 1997:
-- Hacking (kdecore, kdepim, applications)
-- board member 1999 to 2006
-- Desktop Summit 2011
- FSFE Germany team member
- researching Free Software and Intellectual Property
issues at TU Berlin
- married, two kids, lives in Berlin
CWD: ~
miroslav@silberpfeil: >
Saturday, March 10, 12 3

4. Potential points of
conflict
• Crowding out
• Attribution for commercial use
• Viability of the community
• Embedded knowledge
• Copyright, trademark issues
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5. The constitution of KDE
Saturday, March 10, 12 5

6. Community
• Meritocracy of all those who contribute
• Self-directed
• All doors open approach
• (S)He who does the work decides
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7. KDE e.V.
• Stakeholder’s association of contributors
• Only individual membership, no entities
• Invite-only membership
• Passive, supporting membership models
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8. Fair
Collaboration
What would that be?
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9. Rights
• Influence development
• Be part of the community, collaborate
• Exercise the Four Freedoms
• Benefit from own contributions
• ?Appropriate the results?
• ?Build IP?
Saturday, March 10, 12 9

10. Responsibilities
• Be open about goals
• Be transparent about activities
• Be committed longer-term
• Be generous
• Be humble
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11. Decision Making
• One member, one vote
• One commit, one vote
• One $€¥£, one vote
All of these have been observed in the wild.
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12. Learn and Adapt
Saturday, March 10, 12 12

13. Der eingetragene Verein
• Formalizes idea of communities working on a
common goal
• Stakeholders equivalent of shareholders
association
• Supports continuity
• Leaves project in the hands of the community
• Tendency to make it a lot more complicated than it
is :-)
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14. Good
Saturday, March 10, 12 14

15. Good
KDE e.V.’s constitution guarantees that KDE
remains independent. KDE is one of very few
prototypical Free Software communities with
little external influence.
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16. Bad
Saturday, March 10, 12 16

17. Bad
KDE e.V.’s constitution guarantees that KDE
remains independent. KDE is one of very few
prototypical Free Software communities with
little external influence.
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18. Maybe together?
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19. KDE in 2012
...and beyond
• Revisit KDE’s structured value proposition for corporate
contributors.
• Pro-actively leverage synergies to exploit ecosystem dynamics.
• Apply cascading platform game plan to increase utility on a macro-
economic and political scale.
This result-driven strategy will put KDE on the fast track to
global market penetration.
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20. KDE in 2012
...and beyond
• Ok, let’s do that again...
Saturday, March 10, 12 20

21. KDE in 2012
...and beyond
• Establish an easy way for interested companies to become part of the
KDE community.
• Allow companies to promote their interest in the project.
• Equal footing, no preferential treatment of volunteers or companies.
New KDE corporate contributor program
to be announced later this year.
Saturday, March 10, 12 21

22. Thank you!
Questions?
Saturday, March 10, 12 22

23. References
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thinkfat/4759419053
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justitia
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