7 MIN READ
Nithya Ruff | 16 July 2024
There is so much more ahead for all of us to do, to take the power of open source and apply it to the world of AI, the world of social good and to help make the world a better place.
It is important to share a brief history of open source and why this moment of the OSPOs for Good 2024 conference at the United Nations is so significant for the millions who have contributed to open source software. The power of open source is because of the contributions and collaboration of people around the world towards a common need.
The 1980s paved the way for a different way of looking at software licensing and development. It was the idea expressed through license that software should be open and free for users to examine, modify, distribute and use for any purpose. This license, combined with a global, collaborative community that develops the software, made it a powerful and fast way to innovate in real time.
The 1990s saw Linux using this license and collaboration to grow rapidly, replacing other operating systems across a wide variety of hardware. It also saw technology companies overcoming their fear and adopting Linux in their product strategies by learning to embrace a different way to collaborate across the world. The Open Source Program Office, or OSPO as we know it now, was thus created as a center inside organizations to guide this nascent strategy.
The 2000s shows the widespread use of open source to build the scaffolding for the cloud and the Internet. We would not have the scale and scope of digital infrastructure across the world without open source innovation, speed, and problem solving. These building blocks of open source software combined with a community working across the world and around the clock made it the right enabler of scale and functionality. We also see the spread of well-structured OSPOs in cloud and internet companies to organize open source strategy and work inside companies.
The power of an OSPO is in creating a more organized and structured way to tackle the very unstructured world of open source. Setting up an OSPO signals to the world that companies are taking open source seriously and are ready to openly collaborate with others. Oftentimes, OSPOs are the first step into an organization for open source communities and collaborators. OSPOs guide the company and help to build bridges with external collaborators. It has been a unique and important organization that I am proud to lead inside Amazon today. For more on OSPOs, check out TODO Group.
Nithya Ruff in the General Assembly room of the United Nations
The 2010s saw cloud and other services making it easier for enterprises to work on their own digital transformations. Enterprises in media, retail, finance, and more became technology companies. They hired software developers and used open source to transform their work in serving their customers. Enterprises that had relied on vendors to supply hardware and software were now using and working with open source. We would soon see more industries like energy beginning to use open source to create a more flexible and open grid.
This brings me to where we are today - an era where the criticality of open source to the world’s infrastructure has created a deeper interest from governments to inspect the software more closely and define secure and safe use. This has resulted in a number of regulations such as the EO 14028 and the Cyber Resilience Act. Governments concerned about the vast and critical use of this software are taking steps to ensure that it is securely developed, and sustained. Open source has had to grow with the times to recognize the responsibility that comes with success, and reach out to policy makers and regulators.
This is also a time where there is a realization that open source is not just about the software it produces. It is the practice of bringing people around the world to the table to collaborate on problems impacting the world. Open source prizes itself on fostering a community of volunteerism, giving back, transparency, community building, and moving fast. This is what drew the attention of the United Nations and other change makers. It is not a surprise then that an organization that transcends boundaries like the UN, and whose charter is to uplift humankind, is interested in how open source can be in its toolkit of solutions. This is what I saw at the United Nations last week. A recognition that governments and the UN can and are leveraging the power of open source to solve big problems across the globe, using not just the technology side but also the culture of open source. The UN sees the power of leveraging open source to work on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs.
Last week brought experts from the world of open source and the world of the UN, government, and NGOs together to work on understanding the needs, and unpacking how open source can help. The mission of the UN is global and humanitarian. Working with policy makers and paying tribute to this moment in history alongside the United Nations was awe-inspiring and surreal. Could it be that the once thought of as “hippie” and “fringe” movement is now being seen as one of the keys to working better together as a world to solve problems facing humankind? It was humbling to be there and I spent the two days at the UN listening and learning. On the third day, a subset of us gathered at Microsoft’s offices in Time Square to roll up our sleeves and work on how to take the learnings forward. It was months of work that led to giving people time to air their expectations for “what is next.”
I want to acknowledge some key people without whom these 2 days would not have happened. Omar Mohsine, the open source coordinator for the UN, Mithusha Kajendran who organized the Reboot the Earth campaign, Jacob Green a tireless open source leader who has been working on public sector OSPOs for a decade, the OpenForum Europe leaders like Astor Nummelin Carlberg and Sachiko Muto brought all of us together. Very proud to work with my North Carolina colleagues Ruth Suehle and Brian Proffitt and Jacob Green on putting the ‘What is Next for Open Source Day’ after the #OspoForGoodEvent. This helped us debrief from the learnings of the 2 days at the United Nations and to work on next steps for bringing open source and the SDGs together. We could not have coordinated this day without support from the Linux Foundation and the Apache Software Foundation, and without the support from GitHub and RedHat who sponsored the meals.
From left to right: Cori O’Brien (Salesforce), Nithya Ruff, Omar Mohsine (United Nations) and Arun Gupta (Intel) in the Security Council Room
There is so much more ahead for all of us to do, to take the power of open source and apply it to the world of AI, the world of social good and to help make the world a better place. I want to end with the mission of the United Nations and the SDGs which is to bring peace and prosperity across the world through global collaboration and partnership. A mission that open source is well aligned to serve.