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Seattle-based open-source software developer SourceLabs today announced that Bruce Perens has joined the company as its vice president of developer relations and policy.
Perens, a high-profile figure in the open-source software community, is the original author of the "Open Source Definition," now widely recognized as the authoritative description of open-source software.
He founded or co-founded a number of open-source organizations including the Open Source Initiative (OSI), the Linux Standard Base (LSB), and Software in the Public Interest (SPI).
Forging Relationships
According to SourceLabs, Perens plans to continue in his role as an advocate of open-source policy and applications."Bruce is not only one of the original thinkers behind many of the concepts underlying today's vibrant open-source community, he has also been one of its most effective advocates," said Byron Sebastian, CEO of SourceLabs. "Open source developers and the corporate IT community have tremendous potential to work together, and Bruce's experience forging communities of common interest will be invaluable as these two groups collaborate more in the future."
Perens said in a statement that SourceLabs' investment in integration, testing and support of open-source software "will be the key to serving the best interests of major corporate IT departments."
Street Cred
Perens' background includes twelve years working for Pixar (Nasdaq: PIXR) animation, two years with Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) as Senior Global Strategist for Linux and Open Source engineering, and high-profile projects such as the first known flight of a Linux system on NASA's Space Shuttle and the Debian GNU/Linux Distribution.
After releasing his first free software program, Electric Fence, in 1987, he created Busybox, which spawned its own development community and is part of most commercial devices using embedded Linux.
He is a member of the board of directors of Open Source Risk Management, Technovera, and Software in the Public Interest.
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