Does open source need its own Priority of Constituencies?

A presentation at State of the Source Summit in September 2020 in by Tobie Langel

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Does open source need its own Priority of Constituencies?

Tobie Langel (@tobie) Principal, UnlockOpen

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Open source crisis

  • Maintainer burnt out.
  • Cloud capturing too much value.
  • Ethical concerns over impact on end-users.

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What’s going on? We’re witnessing the emergence of new constituencies.

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The 4 freedoms & the OSD

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The 4 freedoms & the OSD

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How do we handle this increased diversity of constituencies?

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W3C’s Priority of Constituencies

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W3C priority of constituencies

End users > Authors > Implementors > Spec editors > Theoretical purity

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Size of each constituency

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Cost of 1 hour of spec work

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Apache Software Foundation mantra

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Apache Software Foundation mantra

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Apache Software Foundation mantra

End users > Theoretical purity

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Apache Software Foundation mantra

People > Code

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What would an open source priority of constituencies look like?

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Open source priority of constituencies

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Open source priority of constituencies

People > End users > App devs > Cloud infra > Contributors > Maintainers > Theor. pur.

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But is W3C’s priority of constituencies a silver bullet?

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Economic situation

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Economic situation

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Economic situation

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Economic situation

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Let’s apply this to open source.

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The canary in the coal mine

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Open source priority of constituencies

People > End users > App devs > Cloud infra > Contributors > Maintainers > Theor. pur. `

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Open source priority of constituencies

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Open source priority of constituencies

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Open source priority of constituencies

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Benefits of a priority of constituencies

  • Keeps focus on people & downstream impact.
  • Maximizes benefits to the commons by upstreaming work.
  • Surfaces discrepancies between economic situation and work expectations.