Newsletter – Issue 14 – June 2018
Introduction
It has been a busy month for the OpenChain Project. We had a particular focus on outreach in Asia and Germany, building new connections in Tokyo, Beijing and Berlin that will help accelerate adoption. We also released a significant amount of reference material and reports, including our first large-scale tranche of case studies.
Events
We kicked off the outreach with an Asian Legal Network event in Beijing. This intimate event provided an opportunity to present the basics of the OpenChain Project and to highlight our material to assist in the adoption of key requirements of quality open source programs. You can learn more about this event here:
https://www.openchainproject.org/news/2018/05/17/openchain-asian-legal-network-beijing
The OpenChain Japan Work Group was next with its fourth meeting at Toyota’s Midland Square offices on the 13th of June. Over 40 representatives from 26 companies gather to share their case studies and knowledge around compliance. You can learn more about this event here (and read below to get links to some of our fantastic new case studies):
https://www.openchainproject.org/news/2018/06/05/reminder-fourth-meeting-of-the-openchain-japan-work-group
and
https://www.openchainproject.org/news/2018/06/13/openchain-japan-work-group-toyota-in-nagoya
We continued our momentum by delivering a keynote at the inaugural FOSS Backstage conference in Berlin on the 14th. This event brought a diverse group of corporate and community figures together, and provided an excellent opportunity to connect with parties that we already have some dialogue with in this geography:
https://www.openchainproject.org/news/2018/06/14/openchain-keynote-foss-backstage
and
https://www.openchainproject.org/news/2018/06/14/openchain-workshop-foss-backstage
You can watch the video of our keynote right here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojW_qH9sMBc
OpenChain was next featured during a special presentation at a FOSS Compliance Seminar in Berlin hosted by our local partner – Software Compliance Academy – and KDAB:
https://www.openchainproject.org/news/2018/06/14/openchain-foss-compliance-intensive-seminar-berlin
We returned to Asia for the Open Source Summit Japan. Toyota featured OpenChain prominently during their opening keynote of the event. You can see some of the excellent pictures – and get an idea of Toyota’s open source approach – right here:
https://www.openchainproject.org/news/2018/06/21/openchain-toyotas-keynote-in-open-source-summit-japan
Meanwhile, we also had an OpenChain specific speech at the conference. You can review the slides right here:
https://www.openchainproject.org/news/2018/06/21/openchain-project-open-source-summit-japan-the-slides
OpenChain give a general audience speech and held a dedicated workshop at LinuxCon China on the 25th of June, providing our first large-scale engagement with the local audience. Thanks to this event we have built some useful bridges that will lead to further workshops later in the year:
https://www.openchainproject.org/news/2018/06/07/openchain-workshop-at-linuxcon-china-schedule-and-registration-details
As part of the China outreach we also launched a WeChat group. For those unfamiliar with the Chinese market, WeChat is the most widely used communication client beyond email, and it provides excellent ways to keep in contact with large numbers of people:
https://www.openchainproject.org/news/2018/06/14/openchain-announces-wechat-group-for-china
Contributions and Releases
We really shone on the community contribution and report front this month.
Our international colleagues contributed automotive case studies during the April Legal and Licensing Workshop in Barcelona. These case studies are now available in anonymized format for all to learn from:
https://www.openchainproject.org/news/2018/06/10/openchain-announces-automotive-case-studies
Back in Asia, the OpenChain Japan Work Group continued their excellent work with the release of a series of company-specific case-studies.
Panasonic:
https://www.openchainproject.org/news/2018/05/31/openchain-announces-japanese-case-studies
Hitachi:
https://www.openchainproject.org/news/2018/06/05/openchain-announces-hitachi-case-study
Sony:
https://www.openchainproject.org/news/2018/06/07/openchain-announces-sony-case-study
Toyota:
https://www.openchainproject.org/news/2018/06/21/openchain-project-announces-toyota-case-study
Fujitsu:
https://www.openchainproject.org/news/2018/06/21/openchain-project-announces-fujitsu-case-study
Hitachi Solutions:
https://www.openchainproject.org/news/2018/06/21/openchain-project-announces-hitachi-solution-case-study
This material was bolstered by our first location-specific Japanese onboarding material provided a great example of how to bring new stakeholders into the fold. As a reminder, the Japan Work Group conducts its meetings in Japanese, and therefore the onboarding material is also in the local language. Check it out here:
https://www.openchainproject.org/news/2018/06/21/openchain-project-announces-japanese-onboarding-material
We also continued our process of translating great international material into local languages with the release of Japanese reference checklists. These are translations of the checklists launched during Q2 for the English speaking market:
https://www.openchainproject.org/news/2018/06/21/openchain-announces-japanese-checklists
New Partners
We were delighted to welcome two more parties to our pilot partner program. Source Code Control (UK) and EACG (Germany) provide a significant expansion of our European footprint. We look forward to collaborating with both to bring their clients into the OpenChain fold:
https://www.openchainproject.org/news/2018/06/10/openchain-announces-two-new-partners
It should be noted that we have been working with Source Code Control for a while, and their excellent advocacy lead to our conformance relationship with the British National Health Service.
Improve Outreach
Our website is getting a significant overhaul to better feature both the raft of contributions listed above and other recent material. This process should be complete bu mid-July. You can already see the first fruits online, with enhanced self-certification, conformance and FAQ material:
https://www.openchainproject.org/news/2018/06/10/openchain-announces-redesigned-website
As usual, our Japanese community is fully engaged, and this means that our first full translation of the website will be in Japanese. We have released a preview during June and expect to have the formal website release in July:
https://www.openchainproject.org/news/2018/06/21/openchain-announces-japanese-website
Summary
The OpenChain Project is having a significant impact on global open source compliance discussions. As we do this we are discovering new ways to support corporate engagement with open source and to foster more effective supply chain management of open source code.
Our outreach has highlight a series of steps that companies are going through on their path to having all the key requirements of a quality open source compliance program. Toyota summarized it as follows:
Stage 1: No knowledge of compliance
Stage 2: Knowledge of compliance without knowing what to do
Stage 3: Knowing what to do but not understanding how to do it
Stage 4: Knowing what to do and how to do it
Our experience shows that most companies are at stage 2 and 3. In certain jurisdictions a surprising number of companies are at the intermediate point between Stage 1 and 2. Stage 4 is where companies are positioned for conformance to the OpenChain Specification. Right now we are helping a lot of entities on their journey. This will pay increasing dividends over time and validate the value provided by this project, our approach and our vibrant community.
License and Trademarks
Copyright 2018 The Linux Foundation. This newsletter is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-ND 2.0). Please feel free to share it onwards! OpenChain is a trademark of The Linux Foundation. It may be used according to The Linux Foundation Trademark Policy and the OpenChain Terms of Use. All other trademarks belong to their respective owners.
