Sustainable OSS: More than just code.
Jeff Brown
OSS projects with lasting impact is much harder.
Here are a few ways that a Foundation could help OSS projects remain viable.
1. Resources & Sponsorship.
While there are many places one can host an OSS project, it is still
sometimes difficult and expensive to obtain resources and tools required for
development. For example, the members of an OSS project that extends
Microsoft TeamSystem will probably need a rather expensive MSDN
subscription.
A Foundation can help by coordinating sponsorship of OSS projects by
independent vendors. For example, it could offer tax receipts for
charitable donations of resources and software.
2. Promotion, Packaging & Bundling.
It can be difficult to build a complete software stack. OSS tools typically
do not provide all of the integrated features of commercial products; they
need to be assembled carefully. (And that's largely a good thing!)
A Foundation can help businesses by promoting packages of OSS tools that
work well together. In addition, it could sponsor efforts to build complete
bundles out of these tools that solve problems end-to-end including all of
the required dependencies and documentation for getting it all working
together.
3. Continuity.
Many OSS projects fail shortly after the original founding team moves on to
fresh horizons. Sometimes the community steps in to take over. Sometimes
not. This is a bit sad; especially for projects that are widely used like
those of '_why' were.
I'm not sure how a Foundation can help here. Perhaps it can organize the
community, provide interim governance, and help in the search for new
maintainers.
Jeff.