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Let’s Make Software Great Again:Sustaining Our Digital Infrastructure

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Infrastructure:

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Funded by gov’t and private partnerships

Trump, Clinton and Sanders agree: “We need to support this!”

No dedicated funding or support

“No, they like it when we don’t pay them.”

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Digital infrastructure: (n.) layers of the Internet that everybody uses to

build software

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Tools: Grunt, RSpecLibraries: devise, mustache

Frameworks: RailsPackaging: bundler, gems

Languages: Ruby, JavaScriptDatabases: Postgres

Servers: unicorn, Nginx

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Digital infrastructure is built and maintained by citizens, not

government

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(This is a good thing!)

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Anybody can release a new project

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Anybody can use it, whether a 12 y/o coder or a billion dollar company

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Open infrastructure prioritizes speed and innovation

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...but it still needs love. <3

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“I do not have the time or energy to invest in open source any more…” (@ryanbigg)

“Just relying on people’s good will isn’t going to work…” (@andrewgodwin)

“Stop hoping that volunteers will...maintain the...tools that your work depends on” (@rubytogether)

“I was proud of how my projects could do so much with so little. Now, I see there are always costs.” (Audrey Eschright)

“It doesn’t need to be this way.” (@shazow)

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“I thought open source was a volunteer effort. What's changed?”

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Open source has been around for 30+ years

1981-1998: Closed source was the norm

1998-2008: Startups start using LAMP stack

2008-2013: Open source workflows standardize (Git, GitHub, Stack Overflow)

2013-today: Open source is the norm

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Today, every startup uses open source technology.

Big companies want to use open source.

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This puts enormous demand on our existing infrastructure.

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Just to clarify…

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We are talking about:

Community open source tools used by millions to build THEIR projects, touched by billions

Examples: D3, jQuery, Ruby, Django, Rails, Python, Haskell

We are not talking about:

“My fun open source project that I made this weekend”: projects that do not carry many dependencies or require significant upkeep, even if popular (ex. ssh-chat)

“Open sourced”: projects built inside a company that are then made open source (ex. Swift)

“Open core”: open source core product with paid add-ons (ex. MySQL)

“Open source businesses”: Businesses built on open source communities (ex. Nodesource) or who make open source products (ex. Docker)

“Inner source”: companies adopting open source philosophy for internal workflow (ex. PayPal)

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How infrastructure gets supported

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Consulting & ServicesCharge for implementation, support contracts, etc

Ex. Hoodie, PyPy, OpenSSL

PROS● Sustainable, recurring business model that aligns with customer needs

CONS● You build a small consulting business instead of working on code● Can be at odds with making software simple to use● Project needs to have people willing to pay

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DonationsGet people to donate

Ex. Twisted, Git

PROS● Few strings attached

CONS● Usually not much money unless you have dedicated fundraising● Need an entity to donate to (ex. SFC). Much harder for individuals or international ppl● Sometimes not clear who should accept money, how it gets distributed

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CrowdfundingRun a single (Kickstarter) or recurring (Patreon, Salt, Gratipay) crowdfunding campaign

Ex. rvm, Django

PROS● Few strings attached● Easier for individuals to manage

CONS● Lots of work involved to market campaign● Usually has to be tied to a concrete outcome● Not that much money (~$50K for one time, <$1K monthly for recurring)● Harder for companies to donate

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BountiesPost a “bounty”, or reward, for completing a task. Has become popular for security bugs.

Ex. Bountysource, GitHub Bug Bounty Program

PROS● Leverages community● Pays for specific work to get done (unlike donations)

CONS● Can create perverse incentives (low quality PRs, distracting priorities)● Not that much money● Doesn’t provide recurring revenue

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Company SponsorshipsCompany sponsors a maintainer to work on project

Ex. Ruby/Heroku, jQuery/Mozilla,Node.js/Joyent, Python packaging/HP

PROS● Taps into those with most resources● Can be great alignment with company needs● Gives maintainers steady income

CONS● Getting companies to agree to this arrangement :>● Person not contributing to company’s bottom line, which makes them expendable● Governance issues, company having undue influence over project● Can affect project dynamics + balance to sponsor a maintainer

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FoundationsCreate a foundation to support the project

Ex. Ruby Together, jQuery Foundation, Django Foundation, Node.js Foundation

PROS● Neutrality. Foundation protects the code and helps steward community● Influence distributed across multiple donors● Can legitimize project, companies feel more comfortable giving

CONS● Only works for big projects● Very difficult to set up (many do 501c6 instead of 501c3)● IRS doesn’t like open source, restrictions on what you can do● Requires serious community effort and diverse skills. (Still need to fundraise!)

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Is anybody thinking about this besides me?

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Linux Core Infrastructure InitiativeMozilla Open Source Support

NUMFocusEU grants

Stripe Open-Source Retreat

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But efforts are still fragmented.

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What is needed, IMO

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Cultural awareness

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We all use and benefit from infrastructure, but are unaware of lack of support

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Current perception is they don’t need help

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Community knowledge is hard to access

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Digital infrastructure is changing rapidly

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Inclusion of non-coding skills and support

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Open source attracts people who love to code

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Other functions get overlooked or ignored

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Yet we hear over and over that these things matter

Bitcoin “Why has Bitcoin failed? It has failed because the community has failed.”

Linux “We had really big fights back in 2002 or so...there was no technical solution. The solution ended up being better..management.”

Node.js “If we...don’t create a structure around it we open ourselves up to informal influence that could be wide in scope.”

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This is not a crisis, but an opportunity

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Better infrastructure =

Tools become more accessibleMore people build amazing things we

can’t even dream ofMore inclusion of talent -> better hiringCompanies can build, thrive and scale

fasterhax0rs don’t take down our companies

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We had no idea in 1996 what people would do with the Internet.

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SOFTWARE