Do you really know who owns the brand behind the top open source projects you rely on? Code is infinitely forkable; brands and communities are not. Engage in an interactive session reviewing top open source projects, and be surprised when you learn which projects are truly independent, and which are really vendor-owned, and how well their governance model works.

You don’t have to get involved in branding: but you do need to know who truly controls the direction of the open source technologies that you rely on every day. Far too many individual developers and companies rely on a wide variety of open source tools that come from different projects. How do you accurately evaluate the security, stability, and potential for future support around an open source project? How can you find if your chief competitor truly has a lock on a project’s governance and future direction? How well do projects define their governance, and what are the chances for hidden power struggles behind the scenes?

The power behind a project’s brand is not always obvious. Come discover who governs some key open source project brands, and what might happen to governance when someone goes IPO or gets bought out. Learn how to keep governance of the project truly independent and welcoming – or how to properly own and run your own open source brand.

Understanding the brand, governance, and background of any FOSS project is critical to understanding where the project is going in the future - and if you can rely on them for your work.  Surprises guaranteed!