Jill Ratkevic’s Post

Developers indeed deserve the chance to earn equity, in open source projects. They should also have the freedom to protect that equity. By easily exchanging bits of it with that of other businesses and initiatives. Whether they're being built on that particular open source project, or a different one altogether.

The big question in open source right now is funding. To fix the inequity in open source, folks have suggested SaaS-like payments, more corporate sponsorship, increased code contributions, pledges, government aid, and other tactics. Excited to share a piece on InfoWorld today that lays out all the possible funding avenues for open source, featuring insights from experts with deep experience across various open source software communities. I hope this will shed some light on the issue and inspire change. Personally, I think treating open source as a public good is the most forward-looking option, although it'll probably require a combination of the efforts laid out here to sustain this ecosystem in the short term. As Red Hat's Brian Proffitt says, "There is no one-size-fits-all solution." Thank you to everyone who participated in this story! This one features, in order of appearance: - Kevin Crosby, senior director of open source funding at GitHub - Ann Schlemmer, CEO of Percona - Priyanka Sharma, executive director of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) - Ruth Suehle, executive vice president at The Apache Software Foundation Foundation - Seth Michael Larson, security developer-in-residence at the Python Software Foundation - Jordan Harband, principal open-source architect at HeroDevs - Donald Fischer, Co-founder and CEO of Tidelift - Matt Butcher, Founder and CEO of Fermyon Technologies - Thomas Johnson, Co-founder and CTO at Multiplayer - Alex Clark (ACLARK.NET, LLC), open-source maintainer and creator of Pillow - Brian Proffitt, Senior manager of community outreach in the Open Source Program Office at Red Hat - Serkan Holat, Independent researcher and developer specializing in open-source software #opensource #oss #foss https://lnkd.in/eCAmj7Xz

Hello All, We all know how open-source software is created by developers who actually paid nothing, but they don’t expect it, they build it for fun, and they do it as a funny side project. That’s the reason why open-source projects like Linux and Kubernetes are ruling the world. There are other open-source projects also there like Wikipedia, and Open Street Map which actually didn’t receive money from a developer/user who wants to try or to use it. Now Wikipedia is in trouble, we as user as support it right? by contributing money or by our knowledge. Today I contributed to Wikipedia. If me, then you can also do it. To know more, check out here: https://lnkd.in/gE_wwVqJ Ram Iyengar 😊 #opensource #wikipedia #wikimedia #opensourceForLife #fundRaisal

InfoWorld's Bill Doerrfeld examines the variety of ways to fund open source, which is an important question for the ecosystem. Read on to learn Tidelift's views with commentary by CEO Donald Fischer and partner maintainers Seth Michael Larson and Jordan Harband. #paythemaintainers

Open source maintainers underpaid and going gray. A Tidelift survey reveals concerning trends in the open source maintainer community. 60% of maintainers remain unpaid hobbyists, despite increased calls for better compensation following recent security incidents. The maintainer population is aging, with fewer young people entering the field. Since 2021, the percentage of maintainers aged 46-65 has doubled, while those under 26 dropped from 25% to 10%. The report warns that without proper compensation, critical open source projects may cease to be maintained. This highlights the ongoing challenges in sustaining the open source ecosystem that modern technology relies upon. As an open source company, this survey resonates with our experiences. We rely on maintainers, some of whom participate in our office hours. A great deal of trust is necessary for the open source ecosystem to work. There isn't a single solution to this problem; it will require a multi-pronged approach. At Cloud Posse, we're trying to address this by embracing GitHub sponsorships as a way for companies to give back financially. Another avenue could be government subsidies for open source development, given how reliant governments are on open source software. https://lnkd.in/gqueYKEg

The deeper I go into my tech studies, the more I appreciate the impact of open-source technology. As Linus Torvalds once said, “In real open source, you have the right to control your own destiny.” I strongly believe in empowering individuals and communities worldwide to shape their destinies through technology, and open source is the key to this. The Linux operating system, for example, is one of the greatest testaments to the power of open source. For those who don’t know, here are a few basic facts about Linux: -It is so reliable that over 96% of web servers use it (including Netflix, Google, and Amazon). -Most smartphones, like those running Android (which has 70% of the world’s market share), are based on Linux. -Most IoT devices (smart TVs, thermostats, refrigerators, security cameras, etc.) are Linux-based. -It is very secure (more eyes on it means fewer exploits for hackers). -It is extremely modular, flexible, and customizable. -It runs on virtually any hardware. -It has far more data privacy than proprietary software (Windows, Mac). -It is FREE! In other words, some of the most reliable and widespread software we depend on daily was created for free by open-source communities worldwide, simply banding together to create solutions. As Henry Ford once said, “If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person's point of view and see things from that person's angle as well as from your own.” The recent CrowdStrike failure epitomizes our dependency on technology for our daily lives and emphasizes how robust software needs to be for us to fully rely on it. Open source creates some of the most robust software because it allows for a more organic, bottom-up approach to improvement. Just as having more antibodies better empowers the human body to fight off infections or nasty bugs (pun intended), having more collaborators empowers developers to create more robust code. As the old adage goes, “There is strength in numbers.” I believe that the internet should be for all and that all who partake in it should have a voice. Open source is the medium through which our voices can be expressed. But even more than that, it is a way to bring people together—united by a common goal and without a profit motive—so that we can collectively create our best work. The success of Linux and its various distros is living proof of the effectiveness of open-source technology and—even more importantly—what humanity can achieve when united. The next time you watch something on Netflix, remember that it runs on a framework built for free by a community of open-source enthusiasts. Keep creating, keep bringing people together, because that—in the end—is what technology is really about. Some follow-up articles for those interested: -Switzerland now requires all government software to be open source

Investing in open source doesn’t need to be complicated. At Tidelift, our credo is “pay the maintainers.” We believe that paying open source maintainers is a fundamental step in avoiding situations like the xz utlis backdoor hack where a volunteer maintainer who described themselves as an unpaid hobbyist was tasked with more work than they had the time or capacity to do. Since the xz incident, discussion around what could have prevented this has left many in one of two camps: money is not part of the answer, and money is a necessary part of the answer. To quote Tidelift co-founder and General Counsel Luis Villa, "Paying maintainers should not be viewed as a magic bullet, but instead a cornerstone of efforts to improve the security and resilience of open source." When it comes to the open source software we use to build our businesses, we expect volunteer open source maintainers to deliver as enterprise suppliers, but it is a contract that maintainers neither signed nor agreed to. With a growing amount of government and industry requirements alongside a increasingly risky data and technology landscape, there is the risk of maintainer burnout which can leave open source packages unmaintained and vulnerable. A recent Harvard Business School paper from Manuel Hoffmann, Frank Nagle, and Yanuo Zhou estimated the demand-side value of the #opensourcesoftware ecosystem at $8.8 trillion. By comparison, the entire U.S. electrical grid is valued at 1.5- 2 trillion dollars, and the U.S. interstate highway system is valued at 750 billion dollars. Open source software is an exceptionally valuable resource, and we shouldn’t take it—or its creators—for granted. In her latest post on the Tidelift blog, Tidelift VP of Product Lauren Hanford explains why it is crucial to support #opensourcemaintainers, why the current model of running scans to look for CVEs in open source code is *not* working, and a viable path towards more secure, more reliable software. Read the entire post on the Tidelift blog: https://bit.ly/3U9UY6d

San Francisco Billboards Call Out Tech Firms For Not Paying For Open Source: An anonymous reader shares a report: Drivers passing through San Francisco have a new roadside distraction to consider: billboards calling out businesses that don't cough up for the open source code that they use. The signs are the work of the Open Source Pledge -- a group that launched earlier this month. It asks businesses that make use of open source code to pledge $2,000 per developer to support projects that develop the code. So far, 25 companies have signed up -- but project co-founder Chad Whitacre wants bigger firms to pay their dues, too. Whitacre, whose day job is head of open source at app-monitoring biz Sentry, told The Register his employer has for three years operated a scheme to pay developers who maintain and upgrade open source code. "We do dollars per developer, the thinking being it's the developers and software engineers on the staff at a company who benefit the most from open source, who become more productive because of open source," he said. "I had one conversation with a representative from a larger firm and he's like: 'Chad, you're asking me to spend ten million on maintainers.'" Whitacre affirmed that request, and pointed out the firm "spends ten million on something anyway." Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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San Francisco Billboards Call Out Tech Firms For Not Paying For Open Source: An anonymous reader shares a report: Drivers passing through San Francisco have a new roadside distraction to consider: billboards calling out businesses that don't cough up for the open source code that they use. The signs are the work of the Open Source Pledge -- a group that launched earlier this month. It asks businesses that make use of open source code to pledge $2,000 per developer to support projects that develop the code. So far, 25 companies have signed up -- but project co-founder Chad Whitacre wants bigger firms to pay their dues, too. Whitacre, whose day job is head of open source at app-monitoring biz Sentry, told The Register his employer has for three years operated a scheme to pay developers who maintain and upgrade open source code. "We do dollars per developer, the thinking being it's the developers and software engineers on the staff at a company who benefit the most from open source, who become more productive because of open source," he said. "I had one conversation with a representative from a larger firm and he's like: 'Chad, you're asking me to spend ten million on maintainers.'" Whitacre affirmed that request, and pointed out the firm "spends ten million on something anyway." Read more of this story at Slashdot.