Own it: Working with a changing open source database community

You can start out using an open source database because it just works. But if things go wrong, where do you turn?

Taking lessons from the PostgreSQL community, and recent experience with the growing communities around the forks of MySQL, this talk will lead business owners, project managers and developers through best practices for connecting to and being successful working with open source database developers.

In the past three years alone, the number of database-related open source projects has exploded. MySQL has a number of forks, more people are adopting PostgreSQL and non-relational (NoSQL) databases are popping up everywhere. And you are putting these technologies into production.

How do you connect with the people making the software your business depends on? Given the rapid evolution, how can you be confident that you have the stability, features and performance you need from the tools?

Some common questions about working with open source will be answered:

• What is “open source community”?
• How do you get help with problems in emergencies?
• Why is it important to build relationships in an open source community?
• How do you build those relationships?
• How does open source development really work?
• What’s the right way to fund a development effort?
• What can you do to get bug fixes and features committed and released?

This talk will discuss the ways that companies and individuals succeed and fail with open source. Participants will walk away with practical advice on protecting their business and their investment in open source.