They Need You, Too, Two . . .

I recently wrote about an episode of Jason Wood’s “The InfoSec Career Podcast” where he interviewed Kevin Johnson of Secure Ideas. In it, I was clocked on the head over the idea that anyone – non-coders – could contribute to open source software projects. Kevin’s point was that they need writers, editors, testers and more. Obvious on reflection, but eye opening to me.

Fast forward a week, and I was at the All Things Open conference in Raleigh, North Carolina. A huge event about, yes, open source. It was packed with over 5000 attendees and excellent content. Big data, machine learning, Hardware/IOT, DevOps, and more. One particular session caught my attention, “Non-Code Contributors Guide To Open Source” by Dave Strebel of Microsoft.

In this packed room, Dave detailed many of the same points Kevin touched on during the podcast. It was an excellent presentation and solidified what I had learned. Thinking back on the session, though, I wondered “why?” Why, when open source is gaining such traction, are leaders making the effort to pull more and more people into the community?

It seems clear that open source has “made it.” Fifteen to twenty years ago, open source software appeared to be a valuable side show in the enterprise. The major operating systems, databases, and other software were proprietary and built by teams of employees at large corporations. Open source software was often difficult to justify to management, who did not trust their environment’s stability to groups of volunteers. Valid or not, that time has passed. Today, many of those same corporations are on board. Look to Microsoft as a great example.

Open source software is still developed and maintained by volunteers. However, many of the projects are also supported by dedicated teams of developers working on the clock. They bring the expertise and resources of their parent companies to the effort. Adobe, IBM, and Microsoft all contribute extensively on GitHub. Is this “corporatization” of open source software taking away (over?) from the community? Or, is it simply a natural progression of the concept brought about due to successful companies like Red Hat or Wordpress.com?

Is this “corporatization” of open source software taking away (over?) from the community?

Kevin and Dave were likely just trying to show people – like me – that there were opportunities out there for everyone. I don’t want to read too deeply into their intentions. However, by encouraging participation, they may have the effect of stimulating the grassroots heart of open source software. Bringing more people in that are not there for the job is likely to have some impact alongside the more commercial projects.

There is apparent success of open source on all fronts. More and more projects are released, STEM programs based on open source are more prevalent in schools, and – yes – Microsoft is now a leading advocate. For those that have been involved in the community for a long time, what do you view as the positives of this evolution? Are there irredeemable negatives?

I was a believer in proprietary software and the power of companies to apply resources to development.  In fact, I still believe that there is a reasonable argument to be made for both open source and proprietary software.  However, I am excited by the prospects of this larger – perhaps hybrid – world of open source software development.