For this issue of the OSBR, we issued a general invitation to authors to submit articles on the topics of open source business and the growth of early-stage technology companies.

Anthony Casson and Leslie Hawthorn introduce the Oregon State University Open Source Lab, which is home to more than 50 leading open source projects. The lab's staff and students offer hosting, customer software development, vendor partnerships, and industry events. The article focuses on the value of the lab to open source projects and its student employees in particular, who benefit from an immersive educational experience, enhanced professional identities, and real-world work experience.

Tyler Mitchell, Executive Director of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo), applies the concept of technical interoperability to the important social interactions that take place within communities. He uses OSGeo as a case study to show that innovation requires more than technical interoperability; it also requires high levels of social interoperability.

Sandro Groganz, Co-founder of Age of Peers, describes the benefits of business ecosystems for partners of open source vendors. He provides insight into the structures and relationships of vendor-driven open source ecosystems, with the aim of giving partners of open source vendors a strategic foundation for their interactions with the community.

Tony Wacheski, CEO of Anystone Technologies, shares lessons learned during the first year of his mobile applications startup. During this time, the company has released applications for children and music learners, and it has started an open source project that provides an enhanced development framework for handling in-app purchases and related transactions. The article describes the company's first applications and the valuable development, marketing, and sales experience they provided.

In the final article, I look back at four years of the OSBR and describe upcoming changes that will see the publication become the Technology Innovation Management Review starting in September. I describe how the OSBR started in July 2007, the knowledge gap it hoped to fill, and the diversity of topics and authors that filled its pages over 50 issues. Finally, I describe the new publication's broader scope, which formalizes a shift that has been gradually occurring over the four years of the OSBR.

In September, we look forward to the first issue of the Technology Innovation Management Review. We welcome your feedback and invite you to submit articles on the topics of managing innovation, entrepreneurship, open source business, economic development, or the growth of early-stage technology companies. Please contact me at if you are interested in submitting an article.

Chris McPhee

Editor-in-Chief