Paul Cooper – OpenAdvantage

Bringing Open Source to the West Midlands

OpenAdvantage is the first independently funded Open Source solutions centre in the UK. We are here to promote, encourage, and assist local business, charity and voluntary groups, schools, and community projects to use, understand, and take part in Open Source software.

• In this talk we will share our first 6 months of experiences of bringing Open Source to the West Midlands.
• What have we done. The genesis and motivation of our project. The obstacles we faced in getting funding and getting the project started.
• Who we’ve helped. Some profiles of organisations we’ve helped so far, their interest in OSS, and experiences (good and bad) in using or developing OSS.
• What works, what doesn’t work. The tactics we’ve developed and lessons we’ve learned while spreading the word about OSS. Which applications sit in the OSS adoption sweet spot and which aren’t ready for prime time yet.
• What’s missing. We’re not here to whitewash, OSS can’t do everything and isn’t appropriate everywhere. What are the key areas of missing software, skills, or understanding.
• The next 6-12 months. The majority of the talk will reflect on the first six months of the project, but we’ll spend a little time looking ahead 6-12 months to see what lies ahead.