2020-06-17 –, Main Video Conference Room
A few years ago, Heartbleed epitomized a massive open source sustainability problem for critical parts of the internet infrastructure. The bug, which affected the popular OpenSSL cryptographic software library, notably compromised the confidentiality of 4.5 million US patient records and cost the industry an estimated $500M.
It was soon revealed that the root cause of the issue was that OpenSSL was precariously understaffed. Open source sustainability became a major theme overnight. Stories of maintainer burn-out made the headlines. And tentative solutions started to emerge, most of them donation-based.
In this talk we’ll explore a number of existing strategies to fund open source and make it more sustainable, from patronage to dedicated ad networks. And we’ll defend the idea that the best path to open source sustainability is to help companies understand the tangible business value they can get from contributing to open source.
UnlockOpen
Tobie Langel is the founder of UnlockOpen, a boutique consulting firm that helps large organizations build a strong open source culture and leverage it to recruit, retain, and foster top software engineering talent, improve team efficiency, and boost innovation.
His clients include Google, Microsoft, Intel, and Mozilla.
Tobie Langel is the facilitator of AMP’s Advisory Committee and sits on the Advisory Board of OASIS Open Projects.
Previously, he was a member of Facebook’s Open Source and Web Standards team, and was Facebook’s Advisory Committee representative at W3C.
Previous speaking engagements include: QCON, JSConf.eu, Linux Foundation Open Source Summit, Open Source Strategy Forum, FOSDEM, OW2con, OpenExpo Europe, All Things Open.
Tobie Langel is known for having co-maintained the Prototype JavaScript Framework. He also edited a number of Web standards, including WebIDL, and led W3C’s Web platform testing effort.