Keynote Presentation

iText Group
Java
C#
iText, open source PDF library
Open source: not a trivial choice
In 2000, large corporations were
responsible for a number of
misconceptions about open source:
• Open source isn’t well documented
• Open source implies legal issues
• Open source isn’t future-proof
 Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt
Fighting the FUD
Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them.
(Lemony Snicket)
DOCUMENTATION
1st Edition: 2006
• 11.500 copies
2nd Edition: 2010
• 8.000 copies
“in Action” Books
Future titles:
• Create your PDFs with iText
• Update your PDFs with iText
• Sign your PDFs with iText
“LeanPub” Books
Free software without a license is like free sex without
a condom (open source, software hygiene and STDs)
LEGAL ASPECTS
White zone
Gray zone
Black zone
2000-2005:
• “organic” growth of the code
2006-2007:
• IP review with IBM
• Inventory of white zone
• Clarify gray zone
• Contributor OK?
• License compatible?
• Remove black zone
• Delete
• Refactor
Intellectual Property
CLA
Detailed IP Documentation
Suppose that iText was an engine and the application using iText was a car or a bus:
License:
MPL / LGPL
GPL
AGPL
OK for gratis commercial use
Commercial license needed
Commercial license needed
Commercial use?
OK for gratis commercial use
OK for gratis commercial use
Commercial license needed
Free/Proprietary
Before iText 5:
Improvements engine: LGPL
Car or bus: can be proprietary
Car: must be GPL
Bus: can be proprietary
Since iText 5:
Car or bus: must be AGPL
Or: buy commercial license
Car distribution
(e.g. OEM)
Commercial use?
Bus service
(e.g. SaaS)
Business Model Basics “dual licensing”
Good engineers build great technology
Great engineers also create a sustainable business model
BUSINESS
Visitors 2013 — Google Analytics
Heat Map 2013 — Google Analytics
Our brand — Google Trends
Reputation — StackOverflow
Our
Users
Our
Stars
MONITIZATION
•
•
•
•
•
•
Jan 2008:
– IP company (1T3XT BVBA)
Jan 2009: first two sales (iText Software LLC)
Feb 2009:
– incorporated in the US (iText Software Corp.)
– sales people on commission
Dec 2009: License change MPL/LGPL to AGPL
Oct 2010: Bruno quits his dayjob
2011:
– operational company in BE (iText Software BVBA)
– first employees on payroll
•
2013:
– Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500: #53 in EMEA, #10 in Benelux, #3 in Belgium
– US: sales people on payroll
– Change company structure, change 1T3XT BVBA into iText Group NV, install board of directors
First 5 years in business
Sales: countries
Customers: IT Vendors / Integrators
Customers: Government sector
Customers: Financial/insurance sector
Health care:
Manifacturers:
Fortune 500:
And many others
Technical Roadmap
• Mobile versus Cloud
– Android version
– Google App Engine (GAE) Version
• Digital Signatures
– Update to new specs
– Documentation
• XML Worker / XFA Worker
– Generic XML to PDF engine
– Test with HTML, target XFA
Technical Road Map 2012
• Creating Tagged PDF
– From high-level objects
– From XFA Worker
• Focus on standards
– Rewriting the PDF/A functionality
– Introducing PDF/UA support
• PAdES 5
– XML-DSig + XAdES
Technical Road Map 2013
• Major upgrade for RUPS
• XFA Worker: Enterprise-grade solution
• Standards:
– PDF 2.0 and PDF/UA
– PDF/A-2, PDF/A-3, ZUGFeRD
• Fonts
– Support for ligatures
Technical Road Map 2014
• Unstructured PDF
– Add structure!
• Writing a book = making an inventory of iText
– Add missing functionality: PDF 2.0-ready
– Cleaning up the API: iText 6?
• GIS? SVG? 3D?
Technical Road Map 2015
Our
Customers
Our
Stars
AT A CROSSROAD: 2014
Shareholders:
- Ingeborg Willaert (50%)
- Bruno Lowagie (50%)
iText Group NV
°2008 Belgium
IP, TM, Development
Marketing
Board of Directors:
- Peter Camps (chairman)
- Ingeborg Willaert
- Bruno Lowagie
- Andrew Binstock
- TBD
iText Software BVBA
iText Software Corp.
°2011 Belgium
°2009 USA (CA/MA)
Sales EMEA/Asia
Sales Americas/Oceania
Company Structure
Personally I’m always ready to learn,
although I do not always like being taught.
(Winston Churchill)
Men who are doers can also be
thinkers, but the thinking is
done on the move, in the midst
of events. (Colleen McCullough,
The October Horse)
A process cannot be
understood by stopping it.
Understanding must move
with the flow of the process,
must join it and flow with it.
(Frank Herbert, Dune)
Do or do not...
There is no try
(Yoda)
There are people that
fish, and those who
just disturb the water.
(Chinese proverb)
If you have built castles in the air,
your work need not be lost; that is where they should be.
Now put the foundations under them. (Henry David Thoreau)
• Technical Tracks:
• iText for Archiving and Accessibility
• PDF and Testing
• Customer Tracks:
• Templates for PDF
• Carpass
• CSC — Ministry of Justice
• PDF and Workflow
• Inventive Designers
• Trust1Team
• Unstructured documents
There’s more!
iText
Headquarters
Adolf Baeyensstraat 121
9040 Sint-Amandsberg
BELGIUM
EMEA,
Asia
Americas,
Oceania
Kerkstraat 108
9050 Gentbrugge
BELGIUM
1 Broadway, 14th floor
Cambridge, MA 02142
USA
T: +32 92 98 02 31
F: +32 92 70 33 75
E: [email protected]
T: +1 617 982 2646
F: +1 617 982 2647
E: [email protected]
Contact info