More than 100 participants from indigenous software development companies, the telecommunications sector, third level institutes and government agencies attended the event and heard the keynote address from Michael Tiemann, Chief Technology Officer of Red Hat, addressing the short to medium technology outlook for open source software. A lively question and answer session and informal networking reception followed, and a number of companies benefited from one-on-one sessions with Tiemann.
Issues covered during the event included the development of robust commercial business models in the form of bespoke engineering and support services for open source software, the intellectual property issues pertaining to the different types of open source licences, the advantages of the open source software development model versus the current paradigm of commercial proprietary software development, and the increasing penetration of open source into mainstream markets.
Additional IRC technology roadmap events are planned for later in the year. Details will be published in advance on www.irc-ireland.ie.