The global open source ecosystem has millions of projects and observing and participating individuals, who are trying to find their ways to collaborate on activities and finding solutions to fulfill a shared mission. An ecosystem that large inevitably has challenges to remain a balanced, sustainable and welcoming environment.
The My Open Source Experience Podcast collects and shares stories that describe people's experiences from their point of view. All experiences matter, the good, the bad, lessons that you've learned and challenges you still have.
The hosts, Ildiko and Phil are talking to open source, veterans, newbies, their managers, and just really, anybody who is either already involved in the open source ecosystem, or would like to. This podcast is all about the individuals, their voices and their experiences and what they've been through ever since they started to think about or getting involved in open source.
The podcast is under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The global open source ecosystem has millions of projects and observing and participating individuals, who are trying to find their ways to collaborate on activities and finding solutions to fulfill a shared mission. An ecosystem that large inevitably has challenges to remain a balanced, sustainable and welcoming environment.
The My Open Source Experience Podcast collects and shares stories that describe people's experiences from their point of view. All experiences matter, the good, the bad, lessons that you've learned and challenges you still have.
The hosts, Ildiko and Phil are talking to open source, veterans, newbies, their managers, and just really, anybody who is either already involved in the open source ecosystem, or would like to. This podcast is all about the individuals, their voices and their experiences and what they've been through ever since they started to think about or getting involved in open source.
The podcast is under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Open source in the corporate world is often counterintuitive, since the norms, practices and processes are very different, or at least they seem like. But it doesn't have to be that scary and complicated as it looks.
In this episode of the My Open Source Experience podcast, guests talk about their experience with making open source work within a company, to the extent of working upstream. Topics cover management layers, corporate structure, change management and how individuals experience participating in open source communities.
Hear more from:
- Stormy Peters on (the lack of) social norms, open source champions and the maintenance lock-in of proprietary code within companies
- Magnus Buhrgard on the fears middle layer management has about open source and landing OSS code in a product
- Samson Goddy on the importance of speaking the business language and the challenge with corporate company structures when it comes to open source
- Tom Sadler on what motivates or keeps individuals back from contributing to open source
- Austen Bryan on how to succeed with implementing changes in an organization
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In life, in industry and sometimes in open source, we keep re-inventing and re-implementing things. If all software development happened behind closed doors we didn't have any other choice but to do duplicative work and slow down innovation.
In this episode of the My Open Source Experience podcast Stormy Peters shares how the desire to avoid wasteful practices in software development drove her to open source. Her career has been revolving around OSS and she put her passion and growing experience into good use by helping companies, big and small, to build structure, processes and practices to be able to invest and engage in open source.
Learn more about:
- How to enable a company to rely and engage with open source
- Challenges with open source licenses and copyright
- Building an OSPO
- Company acquisition and how to approach that from an OSPO
- Tools that help investing in and working with open source
- The concepts of an old and a young OSPO
- The evolution of an OSPO
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Open source can be intimidating, and sometimes hiding in plain sight.
In the past decade the telecommunications industry has been going through their open source transformation journey, which is bumpy at times. This is an industry segment that is highly regulated and standardized, which can clash with the fast-paced and flexible nature of open source.
In this My Open Source Experience podcast episode, Magnus Buhrgard shares some of his insights about the telecommunications industry, and its relationship to open source.
Learn more about:
- Open source initiatives and projects in the telecommunications industry
- Why mostly telecom operators are the ones who start new open source projects
- What middle-layer management dislikes about open source
- Business reasons and value to adopt and invest in open source
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This is the kick-off episode of Season 3!
The first episode of the season touches on a 5 important topic areas that are key to the open source ecosystem, one way or the other: events, AI, open source maintainers, Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) and open source in the public sector.
Episode highlights:
- Stephen Walli shares his experience and thoughts about the value of open source events
- Ildikó highlights some key upcoming open source conferences around the globe
- Ria Farrell Schalnat points out some of the challenges in the AI space regarding licensing and copyright
- Kelsey Hightower talks about open source maintainers, and highlight some important differences between open source as a license type and as a community
- Federico Gonzalez Waite shares some learnings from the journey he had with the Mexican government through their open source transformation
- Ildikó shares some important details about the CRA
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Good education is crucial, also, the earlier in your life you're expodsed to an experience the better the chance it quickly becomes a skill. Despite of how long open source has been around, it is still not integral part of education, tech, legal or other. Should this change?
In this segment of the My Open Source Experience podcast Ria Farrell Schalnat talks about how she was teaching an adjutant class at a university that was touching on open source, specifically because she didn't get that education during her studies. She also shares what challenges people she knew faced during learning about open source.
Learn more about:
- Why it is important to have open source as part of academic curriculums
- In legal terms, not all licenses are the same, even if they are all open source licenses, and why that poses challenges for lawyers
- Conventions versus case law
- In legal circles, community plays a crucial role to figure out new areas of law and legislations, for instance AI
- Is it time to have the next generation to graduate as open source experts?!
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In this MOSE Shorts segment, Clare Dillon talks about her overall onboarding and contribution experience.
While she's been more active in communities that focus on knowledge sharing and where writing code is not the norm, she highlights the importance of understanding the community before starting to work upstream. Newcomers need to learn the community's language, not the spoken language but rather terms, phrases and communication styleThis step is very important, and it can also be harder than it seems or needs to be. For example, if your community is heavily dependent on acronyms and special terms, you need to make sure you have resources for newcomers to be able to learn those, and be able to participate and have meaningful conversations within the community!
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Tech and business seem to be very far from each other, but they can't exist without each other, and it's best if people have a level of understanding in both.
In this MOSE SHorts segment, Phil and Ildiko are chatting with Austen Bryan about getting the education that one needs for their carrier. Austen went to school to learn about tech first, but shortly after finishing he decided it wasn't enough for him and he went back to also get an MBA. In this segment he shares his experience, and talks about what he would differently. The group also touches on bad management, and what that can lead to.
Learn more about:
- Options and preferences to study business
- When it's best to get an MBA
- Bad managers and servant leadership
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Everyone worries about sustainability, we want to sustain our lives, our relationships, our jobs and our communities, personal, professional or open source.
In this MOSE Shorts segment Michael Dexter talks about his journey with the Portland Linux/Unix User Group (PLUG), which he's been involved in for decades. PLUG is one of the longest running Linux/Unix user groups, it survived the COVID lockdown and Linus Torvalds spoke at meetups multiple times. Michael talks about his experience throughout the years as a participant, volunteer and then organizer.
Learn more about:
- The biggest challenges of running user groups
- The impact of simplicity
- Celebrating small moments
- The secrets to sustainability, no matter the circumstances
- A community success story
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It is undeniable that connections that are built in person are stronger, you can build trust faster and move conversations forward that were otherwise stuck. All this doesn't mean travel funding gets any easier to figure out.
In this segment of the My Open Source Experience podcast Tom Sadler, Ildiko and Phil share their conference experiences and how it helped them to progress better in their respective communities and companies alike. And also touch on what effects openness has on innovation.
Learn more about:
- What you can get out of events, which is useful for not just you but also the company you work for
- How you can improve your company's reputation through presenting at conferences
- Why sticking to the group of people you already know is not a good idea
- What is the hallway track, and why you have to prioritize it
- How to share information within your company after attending an event
- Why you have to bring your managers to conferences
- 'Open Innovation' and why openness is a value multiplier
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There have been a lot of conversations about funding in the open source space at conferences like FOSSY, and overall in the ecosystem.
In this segment of the My Open Source Experience podcast Samson Goddy talks about the challenges in the open source space, and how opportunities are not equal based on where someone lives. For example, in Africa, even regular tech jobs are harder to access.
Learn more about:
- Challenges in the job market affect a person's overall open source involvement negatively
- Volunteering is not part of every culture around globe
- Educating about open source is crucial, and organizations like Open Source Community Africa (OSCA) have that as part of their mission
- Who is a "true open source person"?
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The software industry has been very fast paced none of us wants to be left behind, nor individuals neither companies.
In this MOSE Shorts segment, Ildiko and Phil are chatting with Kelsey Hightower and exploring why open source is key for individuals and companies to ensure their success over time.
Learn more about:
- What slowed down innovation at Google in the datacenter space
- The importance of simplicity
- How proprietary software can put you behind
- How building your social network can benefit you over time
- The secret that will make you a successful speaker
- How Kelsey got started in open source
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Mindset and cultural change is hard in any topic area in any organization, and that is no different with open source either. It often boils down to fear. People aren't sure the new direction will wok out, they might misconceptions about it and in general they are reluctant to leave their current practice behind, whether or not it actually works.
In this MOSE Shorts segment Federico Gonzalez Waite shares how leaders and CTOs in the Mexican government navigated through the changes that were required to be able to leverage open source solutions. And what fears and misconceptions he had to resolve on the way.
Learn more about:
- The two most common fears about relying on OSS
- How to ensure that the right people are in leadership positions
- Educating decision makers
- In hierarchical cultures, like Mexico, it is challenging to initiate change from the bottom, and how to make it happen with open-minded managers
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The steps of creating an open source project might be the same, but the experience is always different.
In this MOSE Shorts segment Gregory Kurtzer shares the back story of creating Rocky Linux, and what challenges he ran into in the early days.
Learn more about:
- The affects of the license switch strategy on the open source ecosystem
- The stability of the open source ecosystem
- Choosing the right communication platform might be more challenging than you thought
- Why people demanded to set up an independent foundation to support Rocky Linux
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Software supply chain security has been on the top of minds lately, for a very good reason. With most steps depending on digital infrastructure, there are a lot of opportunities for cyber attacks to happen. At the same time, there is an often silent mistrust in open source software, because it is designed and developed in public environments. People think that because everyone can see the source code, and is aware of some of the bugs in it that aren't fixed yet, it somehow gives them the upper hand to carry out attacks against these projects. There's something odd about this perception though.
In this MOSE Shorts segment, Wayne Starr shares his view on the state of software supply chain security in the open source ecosystem. He highlights the XZ incident, and how it was caught because the software was open source. He also highlights that this challenge is also present in closed source software, however, it is much harder to spot. This makes proprietary software even less secure, and you have to work twice as much to ensure that you are well protected when using it. Think about the "SolarWinds vulnerability" as an example.
Learn more about:
- Why the open environment is an advantage fro security perspective
- SBOMs and their applicability and application in different ecosystems, like Go, Python or C
- Why it matters how you release software
- Can people still be hobbyists in the open source ecosystem?
- User experience, air-gapped environments and the Zarf project
- The productization work that turns open source projects into products
- A case for experimenting with something in the product first, and then implementing it in the upstream project
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The recent times in open source have been bringing some changes, which connects back to governments' recognition of the importance to protect the cyber space. As modern life depends more and more on connected digital infrastructure, cybersecurity has become the center of attention, and concern. All digital products and services depend on open source software to varying extent, which brings open source into the spotlight, and highlights everyone's responsibilities in maintaining not just their own proprietary code, but also the open source projects they depend on.
In this segment on the My Open Source Experience podcast, Ria Farrell Schalnat, Greg Kroah-Hartman, Michael Dexter and Tom Sadler share their stories and experiences in the areas of legislations, CVEs and cybersecurity, sustainability of open source projects and InnerSource.
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Open source isn't just for software developers. In fact, there is a large legal community that is focusing on licenses, intellectual property, legislations and more to understand how these all apply to open source, and what is enforceable and how. However, law and legislations develop and evolve on a very different pace than technology and open source, which makes the intersection of these areas rather tricky. Have you faced any challenges throughout your journey?
In this My Open Source Experience podcast episode Ildiko and Phil explore the intersection of law and open source with Ria Farrell Schalnat. Ria started out as a computer programmer, then she ventured over to the field of law, but always stayed close to tech through copyright, intellectual property, and eventually open source. Ria has a comprehensive understanding of these areas and shares some of her experiences throughout her career journey that made a difference for her and the law firms and companies she worked for.
Learn more about:
- Why learning is not an exercise to do alone
- Conferences are often underrated, and how you can organize one yourself if there isn't any available in your area
- The conflict between how laws and legislations are created and how software, open source or proprietary, is developed
- Why investing in upstream work and participating in open source projects are necessary to be successful
- SBOMs and cybersecurity
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Maintaining a local fork of an open source project is like maintaining an illusion. It only gives momentarily control and becomes expensive to keep up over time. Have you experienced that already?
This My Open Source Experience podcast episode evolves around this topic and explores why and how to invest in open source projects, including how to pick which ones to rely on, what to consider when setting up your organizational structure, and why avoid maintaining local forks.
- Austen Bryan covers the benefits of relying on OSS projects, and how to pick the right ones.
- Samson Goddy talks about why roles like Developer Relations don't belong in the marketing department
- Greg Kroah-Hartman shares why you don't want to maintain a local fork
- Federico Gonzalez Waite talks about educating people about open source and guiding a large organization through an open source transition
- Michael Dexter shares his thoughts and experience with regulations, patents. copyright laws and how they've been affecting software development and the FOSS movement
- Tom Sadler shares the benefits of investing in upstream work, and why maintaining a local fork turned out to be a bad idea for his company
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Open source investment and involvement are still considered risky and expensive, even though there are individuals, companies and studies that say the opposite. What's your take on this?
In this My Open Source Experience podcast episode Ildiko and Phil explore corporate involvement in the Linux kernel community with Greg Kroah-Hartman. Greg has been a long-term Linux kernel contributor and maintainer, being responsible for the stable branches. Greg had both personal interest in getting involved, as well as motivation from the company he worked for at the time. The Linux kernel has been a popular choice to build an operating system, and therefore corporate investment has been strong in the project with 80% - 85% of the contributors being involved in the community as part of their paid job.
Learn more about:
- What individuals get out of working upstream
- Common mistakes and misconceptions companies have about involvement in open source projects
- Cultural challenges and examples to resolve them
- What successful companies did to thrive with OSS
- How to be proactive to sync product and open source project deliveries
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We often talk about collaboration in the context of open source, or at least externally to a company with partner organizations. However, especially in larger corporations, cross-team work is just as important as the teamwork itself. Working with other teams is often more complicated than it needs to be, for various reasons. These teams could be in different countries, or the company's structure might not allow them to work together efficiently. What can you do to fix that?
In this episode of the My Open Source Experience podcast Tom Sadler talks about how he explored open source and InnerSource, and how he became an upstream contributor through the latter. Tom also shares how InnerSource helped teams within BBC to work together more efficiently, and how it allowed the company to work upstream as well.
Learn more about:
- Why and how to roll out InnerSource within a company
- Metrics to measure team efficiency
- Do you need an ISPO/OSPO?
- What you need to know to consume open source safely and efficiently
- Why you need to avoid having internal forks of open source projects
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If you want your company to be successful you need to deliver value to your customers or you do'n't have a business. Using open source software is appealing, since the source code is available online free of charge. However, as much as it is available to you it is also available to others. So, what's your differentiator? What's your business value?
In this episode of the My Open Source Experience podcast Austen Bryan, Ildiko and Phil dig into the challenges of incorporating open source into business, with intention. Austen has a software engineering degree along with an MBA, which has been giving him a very comprehensive insight and knowledge about the software ecosystem. Before moving to Defense Unicorns, he worked for the United States Air Force with a focus on acquisitions, and gained deep insight into how government agencies operate, including the supply chain for software and other resources. Austen learned about open source while he was working for the government, and now he's with a company that based its entire business on open source. So, why and how do they do it?
Learn more about:
- Defense Unicorns, and how they leverage and embrace open source
- How to find business value around open source software
- Benefits that don't come in the form of money and income
- How to decide whether or not you should open source any of your projects
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