NASA’s approach to open source software is, as it with many things at NASA, disjointed. The meandering approaches didn’t find their common ground to the point that all issues were solved at the NASA Open Source Summit this past Spring, but they all were put on the table.

In reading the official NASA Open Source Summit Proceedings, two things dawned on me.  First, every tech conference should produce and distribute such a document.  Second, what would such a document look like for SXSW?

So was the event useful?  The best use for any NASA I.T. conference is that it creates a gathering of all interested parties in one place.  NASA is incredibly decentralized and silo’d across states, nations, and, if there’s a NASA astronaut orbiting the Earth at the time, across the cosmos.  Any opportunity to gather people in place has its benefits for NASA.