Dr. Wolfgang Gehring
Inspired by the Inner Source movement more than five years ago, Dr. Wolfgang Gehring turned into an ambassador for Inner and Open Source and has been working on enabling and spreading the idea within the Mercedes-Benz AG and its IT-subsidiary Mercedes-Benz Tech Innovation. A software engineer by trade, Wolfgang’s goal is to enable Mercedes-Benz to fully embrace FOSS and become a true Open Source company.
In his free time, Wolfgang likes to engage in conversations about soccer and is a passionate traveler and scuba diver. He calls Albert Einstein’s birth city of Ulm his home in Southern Germany
Session
Fully embracing Open Source Software means to go beyond simply using it – it means to become an active member of the Open Source community. But how do we get there as a big automotive company? At Mercedes-Benz, we decided that if we are going to take Open Source seriously, this needs to become deeply ingrained in the company’s “DNA”, away from a strict “we develop our own code” attitude.
This is why we created the Mercedes-Benz FOSS Manifesto. It is a set of guidelines and core values which sends our employees on their Open Source mission, knowing well that they are fully supported by the company. It is now a key pillar in how we become part of the Open Source movement, and – in the spirit of Open Source – we would like to share it with you.
In this talk, I will present our Mercedes-Benz FOSS Manifesto and the therein contained principles. Attendees will learn how these principles can modernize and transform an IT organization to drive forward a cultural change towards Open Source which will profoundly impact the way in which software is developed at corporate level.