Author: JT Smith
collaborative software development solutions, today announced the formation
of a new non-profit organization to support open source and free software –
The Software Conservancy. The Software Conservancy has also received a
donation of open source code from Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, (DrKW) the
investment bank of Dresdner Bank AG, a member of the Allianz Group. DrKW has
donated to the Conservancy the copyrights and related intellectual property
(IP) rights for openadaptorTM, an enterprise-proven open source software
toolkit that allows the rapid and simple integration of e-business systems.
This new nonprofit organization is built upon CollabNet’s extensive
experience in working with and establishing the most vital open source
projects on the Internet today. The Software Conservancy holds the
copyrights for the donated openadaptor code, and works to ensure that the
code is, and remains, available to the general public under a single
standard license. It will also accept future donations of copyrights to
code, contributed to the openadaptor project, by Dresdner Kleinwort
Wasserstein, as well as by other organizations and individuals. The donated
source code and the open source development project for the worldwide
openadaptor community are hosted at www.openadaptor.org.
The Software Conservancy will consider accepting and holding similar
donations of source code rights from other corporations and individuals
interested in making open source code (as defined by the Open Source
Initiative) and free software (as defined by the Free Software Foundation)
available to the public. The Software Conservancy may also provide other
services, related to intellectual property and governance issues, relevant
to public software development projects creating open source and free
software.
“I’m pleased that Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein has chosen to make the
openadaptor source code publicly available through The Software Conservancy,
and thank DrKW and CollabNet for their support in creating this new
organization,” said Frank Hecker, president of The Software Conservancy and
open source business consultant for CollabNet. “I look forward to The
Software Conservancy receiving future donations of code from DrKW and
others, and hope that it can be of service to other projects creating
software for the benefit of everyone.”
“Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein believes that the openadaptor software
should be of benefit to anyone interested in the problems that it
addresses,” said Russ Goring, Deputy CIO, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein.
“By donating the openadaptor copyrights to The Software Conservancy we have
sought to ensure that the openadaptor source code will always be publicly
available for anyone to use freely, and that the openadaptor development
project will be a cooperative effort among everyone interested in enhancing
the capabilities of openadaptor.”
The Software Conservancy is a nonprofit organization incorporated under the
laws of the State of California. Its primary role is to serve as an
independent, neutral organization to hold copyright to open source or free
software source code and to fulfill related functions with respect to public
software development projects creating such code. An individual or
corporation might donate open source code to the Conservancy if they are not
interested in acting as the copyright holder for that code. Similarly, an
open source project might look to the Conservancy as a neutral third party
that can provide a legal framework for developers to participate in the
project.
About CollabNet
CollabNet provides companies with solutions for collaborative software
development by combining a comprehensive Web-based environment and suite of
consulting services. CollabNet develops collaborative networks that enable
companies to share code within an enterprise, to give select customers and
business partners access to code, or to open the code to the wider open
source community. These solutions are designed for facilitating software
development across globally disparate communities and enabling corporations
to reduce costs and increase revenues. CollabNet is currently working with
customers ranging from hardware and software providers to companies from
industries such as finance, wireless, and pharmaceuticals. Brian
Behlendorf, co-founder of the Apache Software Foundation, established
CollabNet in July 1999. For more information, see http://www.collab.net.
About Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein
Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (DrKW) is the marketing name for the
investment bank of Dresdner Bank AG, a member of the Allianz Group.
Headquartered in London, Frankfurt and New York, DrKW provides a wide range
of investment bank products and services to European and international
clients through its Global Investment Banking, Global Equities and Global
Debt business lines.
openadaptor is a trademark of Kleinwort Benson Limited. Software Conservancy
is a trademark of The Software Conservancy. CollabNet and SourceCast are
trademarks of CollabNet, Inc. All other trademarks or registered trademarks
are the property of their respective holders.
