Open source for fun and profit: rethinking the long road of sustainability.

Open source for fun and profit: rethinking the long road of sustainability.

It is not an understatement to say that today, in 2021, the world runs on open source. Wherever you look, you will find open-source software in the wild - whether you have a smartphone in your pocket or if you see a self-driving car passing by or rockets orbiting in space, open-source is even in simple tasks as deciding what to watch tonight. Open-source software and open infrastructure not only serve as the engine that powers our world. It also enables folks to get together and connect isolated individuals, communities, and missions.

With this in mind, the most important questions we should be asking is: who and what fuels open source? In this presentation, I will discuss how open source can bring individuals together to form communities. And more importantly, how we can rethink open-source and labour to ensure its long-term sustainability.

Transcript

1. OSS for Fun and Profit Rethinking the long road to sustainability DDD E a st Midla nds 2021 Tania Allard, PhD (she-her) trallard.dev @ixek
2. About me Tania Allard Co director Quansight Labs Director PSF Member of Pyladies Global Council Chair DISC (Diversity in Scientific Computing) Industrial Fellow Alan Turing Institute GDE (Google Developer Expert) Machine Learning All around open source nerd and advocate Mechanical Keyboards aficionada
3. 1# Brief History Lesson 2# The State of Current Affairs 3# Sustaining OSS 4# Wrapping-Up 3 trallard.dev @ixek Content
4. Every day life Open your phone, social media, news, medical records, your credit score, your bank app, your new self driving car. They all have something in common: they are all using (or are built with) free and public software 4 trallard.dev @ixek
5. 5 Chapter 1 A brief history of free and public software and the people who built it trallard.dev @ixek
6. 6 Because Free and Open were not always the norm trallard.dev @ixek
7. 7 MS-Dos was released in 1981, marking the emergence of the commercial licenses. No copies, no distribution, no modification. Precedent This marks the emergence of proprietary software
8. 8 1983 GNU birth leading to the “free software movement” 1984 Free Software foundation Activism Free software has its roots in social advocacy
9. 9 Shifting the conversation from politics to technology Technology shift Netscape released The source code Of their browser Leading to the birth of Open Source and the Open Source Initiative
10. 10 You know what free and open source software are trallard.dev @ixek I did not want to make the assumption that
11. The four freedoms 11 0# Run 2# Redistribute 3# Improve The software for any purpose And make copies so you can help your neighbour The programme and release your improvements to the public so the whole community benefits trallard.dev @ixek 1# Study How the programme works https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html#four-freedoms
12. The four freedoms 12 Free as Beer 🍻 No price tag included (Spanish gratis) trallard.dev @ixek Free as a Bird 🦜 Free software movement (Spanish libre) Free as speech Unfortunately many conflate these two
13. Open Source definiton 1. Free Distribution 2. Source Code 3. Derived Works 4. Integrity of the Author’s Source Code 5. No Discrimination Against Groups or Individuals 13 trallard.dev @ixek 6. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavour 7. Distribution of License 8. License Must Not Be Specific to a Product 9. License Must Not Restrict Other Software 10.License Must Be Technology Neutral https://opensource.org/osd-annotated
14. 14 A social unit of people who share common values and mission trallard.dev @ixek Community
15. From the book 15 “Open Source is a development methodology; free software is a social movement” Richard Stallman trallard.dev @ixek
16. 16 Chapter 2 The State of Open Source in 2021 trallard.dev @ixek
17. 17 FOSS makes it exponentially cheaper and easier to build software Long gone are the days when companies relied only on proprietary software trallard.dev @ixek
18. 18 FOSS makes it exponentially cheaper and easier to build software Open Source has fuelled the startup boom trallard.dev @ixek
19. 19 Given us, tech folks, higher bargaining power Move from one company to another? Fine Want better opportunities? Bring your knowledge and expertise with you trallard.dev @ixek
20. 20 Has the potential to be more stable and secure Theoretically it has many more eyes and hands on, meaning the code should be less vulnerable to security flaws and disruption in service trallard.dev @ixek
21. 21 Overall increase of FOSS usage and adoption over the last decades 🎉 trallard.dev @ixek Resulting in
22. By the numbers 22 GitHub Octoverse 2021 trallard.dev @ixek https://octoverse.github.com/
23. By the numbers 23 GitHub Octoverse 2021 trallard.dev @ixek https://octoverse.github.com/
24. By the numbers 24 GitHub Octoverse 2021 trallard.dev @ixek https://octoverse.github.com/
25. Come 2016 Nadia Eghbal released “Rotes and Bridges” About me 25 trallard.dev @ixek https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/learning/research-reports/roads-and-bridges-the-unseen-labor-behind-our-digital-infrastructure/
26. From the book 26 “In a world driven by the technology, we are putting increased demand on those who maintain our digital infrastructure” Nadia Eghbal trallard.dev @ixek
27. Companies and orgs for open source funding Mozilla Open Source Support Grants Liberapay Open Collective GitHub Sponsors Linux Foundation Community Bridge CZI EOSS grants 27 trallard.dev @ixek Technologists turned to their comfort zone: build software
28. One thing i s not the s ame a s the other 28 Money and sustainability Not the same trallard.dev @ixek
29. There is a problem Volunteer burnout Community mismanagement Lack of governance Larger funding needed for critical improvements 29 trallard.dev @ixek But we are trying to solve them with short-term crowdfunding
30. An oldie but goodie trallard.dev @ixek https://twitter.com/choldgraf/status/1149670192982700032
31. 31 FOSS sustainability is a very complex problem Don’t you say trallard.dev @ixek
32. FOSS sustainability essentials New-Theme 32 1# Contributing Back 2# Human and Environmental Diversity (Geo, Tools, People) 3# Community Safety trallard.dev @ixek
33. 33 Chapter 3 Reimagining sustainability trallard.dev @ixek
34. 34 Calculating the cost of open source sustainability trallard.dev @ixek
35. 35 Indirect costs trallard.dev @ixek Direct costs
36. 36 Developing an OSS sustainability strategy (that works for your team) trallard.dev @ixek
37. 1. Determine what projects are critical or strategically important for your team 37 trallard.dev @ixek
38. 2. Evaluate the longevity needs of the project and current gaps 38 trallard.dev @ixek
39. 3. Contribute, listen, engage, participate 39 trallard.dev @ixek
40. From the book 40 “Access is not only about being able to read but being able to have a voice and shape the directions, economic models and infrastructure” Juan Pablo Alperin trallard.dev @ixek https://www.force11.org/blog/open-access-inclusion-interview-juan-pablo-alperin
41. As a company 41 Administrative support trallard.dev @ixek Fiscal Sponsorship- Corporate programmes Improving relationships between projects and external stakeholders Increasing support of diverse skills sets and non-coding functions
42. As an individual 42 Talent trallard.dev @ixek Time Money
43. 43 Quansight Labs is a non profit division of Quansight created to provide a home for a “PyData Core Team” which consists of developers, community managers, designers, and documentation writers who build open- source technology around all aspects of the AI and Data Science workflow. trallard.dev @ixek Us
44. As a company 44 Administrative support trallard.dev @ixek Fiscal Sponsorship- Corporate programmes Improving relationships between projects and external stakeholders Increasing support of diverse skills sets and non-coding functions
45. As a company 45 Administrative support ✅ trallard.dev @ixek Fiscal Sponsorship-✅ Community work orders Hire, mentor, support emerging leaders in OSS Guaranteed time and resources for OSS maintainers and core devs
46. 46 Chapter 4 Hopefully by now I have convinced you to support OSS trallard.dev @ixek
47. 47 It takes time and commitment trallard.dev @ixek
48. So why doing it? More reliable products and supply chain Collaboration between groups Better communication Improved employee retention and recruiting 48 trallard.dev @ixek As a company
49. So why doing it? Build reputation Create new opportunities for oneself and others Support emerging markets Increase tech equity and democratisation 49 trallard.dev @ixek As an individual
50. La st words 50 And it is so worth it 💜 trallard.dev @ixek
51. La st words 51 trallard.dev @ixek https://hacktoberfest.digitalocean.com/
52. 52 Thanks Tania Allard @ixek