The third annual Open Source Think Tank, hosted by the Olliance Group and DLA Piper, will be February 7 - 9 this year, at the Silverado in Napa Valley, CA. As the title states, this is a think tank, and not a conference. The schedule shows two CIO Panel Discussions, four brainstorming sessions and many hours of networking.

Attendees have been asked to think about topics they would like to see discussed, and here's what Clarise and I have bandied about.

1. Our contention has always been that the strength of open source lies in flexibility and community. These two qualities make open source more valuable than the closed competition. How can new business models build on these strengths, and move away from licensing, subscriptions, support and other means of pushing "80% of the capabilities for 20% of the cost" as the message?
2. SaaS is a new way of deploying and delivering software to customers, and open source leads to new ways of development of software and new business models to commercialize this software. Some companies make use of one and make money off the other, in various ways and various combinations. Mashups and SOA and "Platform as a Service" are leading to even greater re-use and innovation. What new synergies and business models can come about from these concepts?
3. Open source software, and even hardware designs, cover many areas of business and consumer applications: operating systems, web servers, databases, reporting, productivity, web browsers, and on and on. However, there are still holes, actual and perceived. These holes exist in segments, such as Governance, in functions within an application, and in vertical/niche markets. Will these holes be filled by existing open source companies expanding their offerings, or by new companies? How does the consolidation, acquisition by proprietary companies, and leveling-off of VC funding for open source companies affect the expansion of open source to fill these holes?
4. There is continuing resistance to open source in organizations of all sizes. From some smaller companies, we've seen two types of responses: one being that they don't have the skills to use, let alone leverage, open source software, and the other being that they gain credibility when they tell their customers that they are using Oracle, WebMethods, Weblogic, Sharepoint and other "brand" names, and that they are afraid of losing this credibility if open source is anywhere except deep under the covers. From large companies, the refusal is often more abrupt and more definite. Arguments of flexibility, security and lower cost often fall on deaf ears.
5. Some in the open source world have blogged about the dearth of executive talent for open source companies. What talent and background make for a good open source corporate leader? At what point in an open source company's life cycle is general business acumen more important than open source commitment?
6. It can often be difficult to find the open source project needle in the haystack of the web. It can be very frustrating to find a project that looks like a solution, only to discover that after several years, it never left the "proposal" or alpha stage. Using tagging, ranking and other Web2.0 social networking type of tools on Sourceforge.net and other forges, foundries and code repositories might help to promote and strengthen ideas and projects into the mainstream, or at least the "Long Tail".

Here are some other attendees' thoughts from their blog posts:

• Open source and the Long Tail: An interview with Chris Anderson, Posted by Matt Asay
• Thinking Forward on Commercial Open Source: Third Annual Open Source Think Tank, Posted by Mark Radcliffe
• Commercial Open Source: Commercial and Open Source are still not Antonyms, Posted by Roberto Galoppini
• the Open Source Think Tank 2008, Posted by Dave McAllister
• OT @ Open Source Think Tank 2008, Posted by stevenn
• My thoughts for the tank: Open Source in 2008, Posted by Gianugo Rabellino