Presented by Elizabeth Krumbach Who Uses and Contributes to Open Source Projects (And how you can too!) Presented by Elizabeth Krumbach lyz@princessleia.com www.princessleia.com

Who am I? I'm a Linux Sysadmin for LinuxForce in Philadelphia I've done Ubuntu certification course development work for Canonical I've written software tutorials for articles on my own website and online magazines My first Open Source project contribution was in 2005 I am a software package maintainer I am involved with various projects within Ubuntu I am a member of the Ubuntu Community Council I coordinate th Philadelphia area Linux Users Group (PLUG) Got LinuxForce opportunity via PLUG Certification work came my way due to Ubuntu involvement Ubuntu: Women, PA LoCo, Classroom, Learning, elected to US Teams Board, Ubuntu Membership Board for Americas I will try to mix things up, but based on my experience I will use a lot of examples from Ubuntu, Debian, Bitlbee

Misconceptions About Open Source Just a thing for hobbyists Not suitable for production Written by “random people online” No one pays for development Programming experience is required to contribute

Who uses Open Source Software?

Open Source Running Websites

Other Places Open Source is Used Over 50% of the sites on the internet use Open Source web software Tivos Amazon Kindle Cellphones: Android, Palm Pre, Nokia N900 Routers: Netgear, Linksys, D-Link, Actiontec Storage Devices: Maxtor, HP, iomega, Western Digital

Who Contributes Now? Companies interested in development of products to fit their industry needs Companies which profit from supporting their Open Source programs Volunteer professionals doing development in their free time for fun or to advance their career Hobbyists and students who enjoy the work

Why would I want to? What can I do? How do I start? Getting Involved Why would I want to? What can I do? How do I start?

Why would I want to? Fun! Friends! Experience! Opportunity!

Programming Working with Bugs Testing Documentation User Interface and Design Community and Support First thing people think of. Of course this is vital! That said, that programming is less useful if no one can use your application, or get help, or find your software

How to begin involvement Go to their website, look around Join mailing list, chat, forums Get a feel for the community Find a task and start contributing! Show some understanding of the project when you present your ideas People don't appreciate new people joining their project and trying to rewrite everything without being familiar with the history, environment, culture Not all projects accept contributions from new people immediately Exceptions, sure! Bugs? It's ok to just jump in and report.

Questions?