New for GOSCON 2007, a special supplemental workshop on a topic that our attendees have asked for, but could not be adequately covered in a one hour session. This year we are pleased to present “Creating an Open Source Policy for Your Organization”.

This workshop will focus on how organizations can create and implement an open source policy. Ensuring a consistent and efficient process for managing the acquisition and use of open source is important, but the easy download availability of open source products presents a challenge to typical software acquisition practices. Moreover, open source licensing is significantly different than traditional proprietary software licenses, and managing use to comply with license conditions is vital.

This workshop will cover:

• The five key phases of creating and implementing an open source policy
• Who should be involved in policy creation and implementation
• Auditing current code use to identify open source use
• Monitoring open source use on an ongoing basis
• The creation and role of an Open Source Review Board
• Integrating open source policy and process with existing organizational processes

The workshop will be an interactive mix of presentation and discussion, with opportunity for questions and to review participants’ real-world issues. Workshop participants will leave with a clear understanding of how to move forward with an open source policy in their organizations.

The Workshop is a supplemental offering to the conference and is only $75. The Workshop Fee includes workshop and materials plus the white paper 'Creating and Implementing an Open Source Policy: Managing Use and Reducing Risk' written by Bernard Golden. Light refreshments will also be served during the Workshop break.

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GOSCON attendance is not a prequisite for attending the special workshop. GOSCON registration does not include the special workshop.

About Bernard Golden: Navica founder and CEO, Bernard Golden, is a recognized authority on open source software. Called “a renowned open source expert” (IT Business Edge) and “an open source guru” (SearchCRM.com), he is regularly featured in magazines like Computerworld, InformationWeek, and Inc. His blog “The Open Source ” is one of the most popular features of CIO Magazine's website and is the author of “Succeeding with Open Source,” (Addison-Wesley, 2005, published in four languages).