Keynote: Applying Open Source Concepts to Non-software Industries

The open source philosophy may be a term related to software, but the basic concepts behind open source have been with us since the dawn of mankind. There is a spectrum at work, with one end being a highly proprietary model where you trust your supplier to build the product or service you need to use without any input or understanding from you, and the other end being the extremely open, transparent and collaboratively built services from Linux to Wikipedia. However, using open source concepts in everyday markets is not a new idea. Most industries work under a version of an open source model. From our legal industry where lawyers design arguments that any other lawyer is allowed to use without restriction, to the fashion industry where any designer is allowed to borrow designs from any earlier design without restriction, payment, or even permission to continue to innovate on behalf of their customers. This talk will look at a few of the factors that affect why some projects work better on a bazaar-like open source model, while others seem to prosper more on a centrally controlled proprietary model.

Bob Young, Co-founder, RedHat, CEO and Founder, Lulu.com Co-founder of Red Hat, the world's leading open source and Linux provider which evolved into a multi-billion dollar, Fortune 500 Company. CEO and founder of Lulu.com, the premier marketplace for new digital content on the Internet, with more than 100,000 recently published titles, and more than 2500 new titles added each week, created by people in 80 different countries. Lulu empowers individuals to create and publish high quality content that is then sold to consumers. Author of Under the Radar, which chronicles the dramatic rise of the open-source movement and the emergence of Linux, an operating system that can be downloaded, modified and redistributed - all for free, 1999. Ranked fourth on Silicon.com's list of "Top Entrepreneurs," 2006 Named one of "Top 50 Agenda-Setters in the Technology Industry," 2006 by Silicon.com. Named one of Business Week's "Top Entrepreneurs," 1999 Named one of Smart Reseller's "50 Smart People," 1999 Bob also has a Canadian connection in that he graduated from University of Toronto in 1976 and is also the owner of Hamilton Tiger Cats of the Canadian Football League.