For those don't know, TYPO3 describes itself as an Open Source Enterprise Content Management System. For those that know me, and know my background, which does not originate in the bright glow and shiny designer content of client facing user experience land, you may be thinking what an earth was he doing in Amsterdam at this convention.

We'll, before your imagination runs riot in a montage of Dutch cliches (hopefully you're thinking Windmills and cheese) let me explain that I was invited to speak on the subject of Community Software. Specifically, the talk described how applying KnowIT principles (NoDev, NoOps and NoIT, which in gratitude to TYPO3 I now refer to as the 3IT principles) when evaluating Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) for the enterprise, results in the selection of a group of FOSS communities and suppliers that understand what it means to successfully operate in a commercial markets. If we name this group of software, which exists within FOSS, as Community Software then we can say that:

All Community Software is FOSS but not all FOSS is Community Software

We can also say a key characteristic of community software is that:

Community Software is distinguished from other FOSS by its emphasis on value generation in a commercial context and the commercial viability not only of the services and software that are offered but, by extension, the viability of the solution providers and software vendors themselves in a competitive market place.

The recognition that such a diasporic community exists in OpenSource is important to the commercial sector as it means we have partners with whom we can safely, successfully and sustainably conduct business. While much of the FUD around the use of FOSS has been dispelled what remains are genuine concerns around commercial viability and the quality services that a single vendor or software community can offer.

One of the questioners at my talk asked what it was about a software community that could make their service offering more attractive than a competitors, an excellent question, and here are some of the criteria that I use to assess any software community, whether it is Community Software, Proprietary or FOSS.

Honesty - Being able to openly and frankly discuss issues and how to solve them within the community. Being transparent and consistent about the pricing for services. Being able to tell me, the customer, what services are really worth pursuing for my use case and which ones wont generate any value for me.

- Being able to openly and frankly discuss issues and how to solve them within the community. Being transparent and consistent about the pricing for services. Being able to tell me, the customer, what services are really worth pursuing for my use case and which ones wont generate any value for me. Vitality - How many people make up the community? How passionate are they about their work? How actively do they participate in the community? Is the community growing?

- How many people make up the community? How passionate are they about their work? How actively do they participate in the community? Is the community growing? Core values, guiding principles and culture - Are the values of the community in line with our own corporate values? Do our cultures 'click' or 'clash'?

- Are the values of the community in line with our own corporate values? Do our cultures 'click' or 'clash'? Integrity - Is the community aligned behind its core values and guiding principles or are they about to tear themselves apart in an ideological schism.

- Is the community aligned behind its core values and guiding principles or are they about to tear themselves apart in an ideological schism. Diversity - Does the community contain a broad cross section of professions and competencies? Are we dealing with coding ideologues and IT demagogues operating in an environment without the checks and balances of seasoned professionals, market operators and commercially savvy regional leaders and investors? A diversity of people brings with it a diversity of experience and ideas. I need no more proof that it is at the interface and intersection of ideas where one can expect to find innovation.

I'm happy to say, what I saw at TYPO3, in the two days I spent with them, was a Community Software association that looked like it was in rude health.

I think the time has arrived for the mature business end of FOSS to distinguish itself more clearly from hobby, start-up, academic and state sponsored elements of FOSS. By creating a Community Source Alliances (CSA), these vendors send a strong signal to Corporate IT that they are more than capable of competing with any proprietary software vendor and they distinguish their products and services not only technically but also philosophically in a manner that embraces commerce and enterprise.

Perhaps another service the CSA can provide beyond best practices and quality assurance of its members is to help Corporate IT in creating or energizing their own IT communities. The two immediate benefits of such a service that come to my mind are in reducing the cost of innovation and increasing the rate of adoption of Corporate IT products and services.

I find this notion to be particularly relevant to some of the larger projects that I am currently involved in. Were I work we have seen huge rates of adoption to our core flagship application platforms, indeed the growth has been exponential in the last two years. Yet if we are to continue and increase the rate of growth itself, which is our target, I am convinced that we must invest in creating a vibrant software community, within the enterprise, for our products and services.

To date there has been a lot of talk about engaging application developers; providing products and services to allow them to become more creative and more productive. The focus of these talks are highly technical and only include a handful of people across the enterprise. In short, its the usual utterly unimaginative "give me X million and I will fix this by hiring staff, writing code and buying technology".

I am as much to blame as everyone else, even if I, at least, recognise that IT isn't going to solve the problem of increasing adoption on its own.

However, I have to say, seeing how much can be done by a motivated community at T3CON15 Amsterdam has given me a whole new set of ideas for increasing adoption. I'm looking forward to sharing these with team on Monday.

Finally a huge thanks to everyone at TYPO3 and especially:

Olivier Dobberkau of dkd Internet Service GmbH for inviting me to speak and introducing me to the community, Robert Lindh and the team from Pixelant with whom I spent most of my time throwing around ideas of 3IT, Community Software, anecdotes and professional horror stories and also Ben Van't Ende and Jeffrey McGuire for taking the time to discuss a wide range of topics with me.