The Wonderful World of Open Source
Travis Fischer
January, 2020
Open Source Definition
- Open source software (OSS)
- Public source code
- Royalty-free distribution
- Modifications must be adhere to original license
Examples
How to view OSS
- Efficient vehicle for innovation
- Alternative to academia & business
- Large spectrum of project types
- Global, decentralized, remote
- Value creation vs value capture
- Not a business model
Why OSS Matters
- More efficient innovation
- Faster time to market
- Transparent by design
- Spirit of open source
- ~90% of companies in non-tech use OSS
- ~100% of companies in tech use OSS
Source: RedHat
OSS is 🔥 for your Career
⭐ Contributing to OSS ⭐
- Great for networking & learning
- Can be very rewarding
- Doesn't have to be code
- Creating issues, improving docs, marketing, design, and many more ways to contribute
- Please communicate with respect and empathy
- Most maintainers are working for free
Contributing Guidelines
OSS Sustainability
- Initial intrinsic motivation
- Maintenance, support, growth
- Sustainability requires extrinsic motivation ($)
- Hobby vs part time vs full time
- Options for funding open source work?
OSS Funding Approaches
| Approach | Value potential | Barrier to entry |
|---|---|---|
| Donations | 💰 | 💪 |
| Grants | 💰💰 | 💪💪💪 |
| Ads | 💰💰💰💰 | 💪 |
| Licensing | 💰💰💰 | 💪💪 |
| Open Core | 💰💰💰💰💰💰 | 💪💪💪💪💪 |
| SaaS | 💰💰💰💰💰💰💰 | 💪💪💪💪💪 |
(greatly simplified and probably wrong)
OSS Projects != Products
Open Core
Scratching the surface
- OSS as a viable career path?
- Contributing to open source (opensource.guide)
- Licensing (choosealicense.com)
- Diversity & inclusion (opensource.guide/building-community)
- Funding (github.com/nayafia/lemonade-stand)
- Commercial OSS (coss.media)
Thanks!
- Travis Fischer (github.com/transitive-bullshit)
- https://saasify.sh
