Fwd: [ros-users] A note about OSRF & OSRC
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Arto Bendiken
Sep 16, 2016, 5:22:14 PM9/16/16
to Conreality mailing list
FYI.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Brian Gerkey via ros-users <ros-...@lists.ros.org>
Date: Fri, Sep 16, 2016 at 11:09 PM
Subject: [ros-users] A note about OSRF & OSRC
To: User discussions <ros-...@lists.ros.org>
Hello!
As some of you may have seen already, we recently announced [1] a
collaboration with the Toyota Research Institute (TRI) [2]. To make
that possible, we created a for-profit subsidiary of OSRF called the
Open Source Robotics Corporation (OSRC). You can also read all about
it in our public release [3]. This arrangement will improve the
quality, scope, and long-term viability of ROS and Gazebo, and we want
to offer some direct answers to questions that may arise:
Q: Aren’t for-profit organizations bad for open source communities?
A: Not necessarily; nor are non-profit organizations necessarily good.
The implications of being a non-profit vary from country to country,
but it is primarily a preferential tax status that is granted in
exchange for constraints on what kinds of business activities are
allowed.
Q: Are ROS and/or Gazebo going to become proprietary?
A: No. We will continue to improve, distribute, support, and maintain
ROS, Gazebo, and other projects as permissively-licensed open-source
software. OSRF will continue to own copyright on open source code
developed at OSRF and OSRC.
Q: Why did you create a for-profit subsidiary?
A: Because, generally speaking, revenue from for-profit companies
cannot constitute a major part of the funding portfolio of a
non-profit organization in the United States. We want to be able to
work directly with companies, such as our recently-announced
collaboration with TRI, without endangering the non-profit status of
OSRF (it is classified under US tax law as a 501(c)(3) public
charity). Therefore, we had to create a for-profit subsidiary.
Q: Is there precedent for this arrangement?
A: Yes, many open-source projects have followed similar paths. For
example, the Firefox browser and Thunderbird email client are
developed by the Mozilla Corporation [4], which is owned by the
Mozilla Foundation. As another example, most contributions to the
Linux kernel now come from employees of for-profit companies [5].
Similar statements could be made about numerous open-source projects
backed by for-profit companies, such as Chromium, Ubuntu, Qt, and many
others.
Q: Why now?
A: Over the past few years ROS and Gazebo have gradually transitioned
from software solutions used largely in R&D and academic settings to
ones that are core to commercial robotics companies. Although this
specific opportunity for collaboration with TRI was a catalyst for the
creation of OSRC, we had long anticipated making this transition once
there was sufficient commercial adoption of ROS and Gazebo.
Q: So how did OSRF exist thus far?
A: The vast majority of OSRF's funding thus far has been in the form
of grants and contracts from government agencies (e.g., [6], [7]),
with a much lesser amount coming from corporate and individual
donations. We are grateful for those funding sources, and we look
forward to continuing to work with those stakeholders. But we believe
that the future of support for both our team and the broader community
will come from the burgeoning use of our tools in industry.
Q: I / my group / my company would like to collaborate with you. Is
that possible?
A: Absolutely! We are here to support the global robotics community.
Please contact us at in...@osrfoundation.org.
We are happy to continue this discussion. If you have questions or
concerns, please send them to co...@osrfoundation.org.
- Your friendly neighborhood open source robotics team.
[1] http://www.osrfoundation.org/were-collaborating-with-toyota-research-institute
[2] http://www.tri.global
[3] http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/robotics-software/osrf-forms-new-corporation-partners-with-toyota-research
[4] https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/foundation/moco/
[5] https://www.linuxfoundation.org/news-media/announcements/2015/02/linux-foundation-releases-linux-development-report
[6] http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/robotics-software/osrf-prepares-for-darpa-virtual-robotics-challenge
[7] http://www.osrfoundation.org/haptix-simulation-of-prosthetic-devices/
_______________________________________________
ros-users mailing list
ros-...@lists.ros.org
http://lists.ros.org/mailman/listinfo/ros-users
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Brian Gerkey via ros-users <ros-...@lists.ros.org>
Date: Fri, Sep 16, 2016 at 11:09 PM
Subject: [ros-users] A note about OSRF & OSRC
To: User discussions <ros-...@lists.ros.org>
Hello!
As some of you may have seen already, we recently announced [1] a
collaboration with the Toyota Research Institute (TRI) [2]. To make
that possible, we created a for-profit subsidiary of OSRF called the
Open Source Robotics Corporation (OSRC). You can also read all about
it in our public release [3]. This arrangement will improve the
quality, scope, and long-term viability of ROS and Gazebo, and we want
to offer some direct answers to questions that may arise:
Q: Aren’t for-profit organizations bad for open source communities?
A: Not necessarily; nor are non-profit organizations necessarily good.
The implications of being a non-profit vary from country to country,
but it is primarily a preferential tax status that is granted in
exchange for constraints on what kinds of business activities are
allowed.
Q: Are ROS and/or Gazebo going to become proprietary?
A: No. We will continue to improve, distribute, support, and maintain
ROS, Gazebo, and other projects as permissively-licensed open-source
software. OSRF will continue to own copyright on open source code
developed at OSRF and OSRC.
Q: Why did you create a for-profit subsidiary?
A: Because, generally speaking, revenue from for-profit companies
cannot constitute a major part of the funding portfolio of a
non-profit organization in the United States. We want to be able to
work directly with companies, such as our recently-announced
collaboration with TRI, without endangering the non-profit status of
OSRF (it is classified under US tax law as a 501(c)(3) public
charity). Therefore, we had to create a for-profit subsidiary.
Q: Is there precedent for this arrangement?
A: Yes, many open-source projects have followed similar paths. For
example, the Firefox browser and Thunderbird email client are
developed by the Mozilla Corporation [4], which is owned by the
Mozilla Foundation. As another example, most contributions to the
Linux kernel now come from employees of for-profit companies [5].
Similar statements could be made about numerous open-source projects
backed by for-profit companies, such as Chromium, Ubuntu, Qt, and many
others.
Q: Why now?
A: Over the past few years ROS and Gazebo have gradually transitioned
from software solutions used largely in R&D and academic settings to
ones that are core to commercial robotics companies. Although this
specific opportunity for collaboration with TRI was a catalyst for the
creation of OSRC, we had long anticipated making this transition once
there was sufficient commercial adoption of ROS and Gazebo.
Q: So how did OSRF exist thus far?
A: The vast majority of OSRF's funding thus far has been in the form
of grants and contracts from government agencies (e.g., [6], [7]),
with a much lesser amount coming from corporate and individual
donations. We are grateful for those funding sources, and we look
forward to continuing to work with those stakeholders. But we believe
that the future of support for both our team and the broader community
will come from the burgeoning use of our tools in industry.
Q: I / my group / my company would like to collaborate with you. Is
that possible?
A: Absolutely! We are here to support the global robotics community.
Please contact us at in...@osrfoundation.org.
We are happy to continue this discussion. If you have questions or
concerns, please send them to co...@osrfoundation.org.
- Your friendly neighborhood open source robotics team.
[1] http://www.osrfoundation.org/were-collaborating-with-toyota-research-institute
[2] http://www.tri.global
[3] http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/robotics-software/osrf-forms-new-corporation-partners-with-toyota-research
[4] https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/foundation/moco/
[5] https://www.linuxfoundation.org/news-media/announcements/2015/02/linux-foundation-releases-linux-development-report
[6] http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/robotics-software/osrf-prepares-for-darpa-virtual-robotics-challenge
[7] http://www.osrfoundation.org/haptix-simulation-of-prosthetic-devices/
_______________________________________________
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ros-...@lists.ros.org
http://lists.ros.org/mailman/listinfo/ros-users
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