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Want to be a Software Industry Influencer? Get Involved in Open Source
Jim Zemlin | 21 August 2017
SD Times recently recognized The Linux Foundation among the top innovators and leaders in software development in its annual SD Times 100 list.
The LF was honored to be named a top Influencer, along with ten other industry heavyweights including Apple, Facebook, GitHub, Google, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Netflix, Red Hat, and Slack.
Does this list look familiar? It should. Each of the companies on the influencers list makes significant contributions to the open source community (bonus points for those who know that most are also members of The Linux Foundation).
Open source has long been a de facto standard for development and the companies on the influencers list pioneered this approach with their own products and services. At the same time, they have led the IT revolution in massively scalable cloud computing, AI, social networking, and many other innovations, and continue to do so. This is not a coincidence.
But now the secret is out. True innovation and leadership comes not just from creating products and services built on open source, but from fully participating in open innovation. Open source has become the platform for mass collaboration and innovation industry-wide. And this open innovation is enabling entire industry verticals to iterate rapidly on technologies, find solutions they can bring to market, and build sustainable ecosystems.
The addition of The Linux Foundation as the only nonprofit organization on the SD Times 100 list this year is an indication that this paradigm is taking hold. You don’t have to be Apple, or Google, or Facebook to become an influencer. Anyone can participate in the open source projects that are leading industry-wide innovation. These are projects like the Apache Software Foundation’s Apache Hadoop, Hyperledger, Kubernetes, Node.js, ONAP, OpenStack, Google’s Tensorflow, and many more.
Together, Linux Foundation members and our projects are leading the charge in open innovation. We’re showing companies that are traditional competitors how they can better work together to advance technologies and markets, and build sustainable ecosystems.
You can also become an influencer in software development. Participate in open source projects and help lead the industry forward.