Gab Columbro, FINOS | Open Source Summit Europe 2022

This is texturing TV. Hey guys. We're at the open source Summit in Dublin.

And my guest is Gab Columbo. Who's the new head of the Linux foundation for Europe just announced today and we're going to talk about well, why do we need this New Foundation? I mean, we already have a global one.

So what's this European one gonna do that? The global one doesn't Oh, first of all, thanks for having me here. It's an exciting time for me personally and I think for the Linux foundation and hopefully for the European open source community.

So you make a good point as I mentioned in my keynote this morning. The Linux Foundation has already a pretty strong presence in Europe. We have you know over 30% of our members are from Europe over 10 staff and we have several projects including the one that I run Finance the Vintage open cells Foundation that are very Europe strong.

but the reality is that you know, this is a region that is very unique in a couple of ways one. that is a very strong, you know, Grassroots open source Community paired with you know public sector that is very open source forward definitely in the sense of you know, transparency reuse open sources of public good for maximizing the usage of sort of taxpayers money, but also in terms of the policies that they put forward and they think open source can enable So if you pair that with the fact that Europe is really the only region that has sort of a supernational entity like the European Union that aligns goals across sort of sovereign Nations as well as create, you know rules of the road for how the collaboration should happen from a sort of a legal and and IP standpoint sort of Audi IP flows around Europe. It became pretty clear to us that having an entity Incorporated in Europe would open up.

major possibilities of collaboration that were just not possible before and I'm gonna make a couple of examples You know, we came across projects in the past that were either addressing a specific European regulation. Or the weather largely backed by European companies and for you know, it was a perception potentially to stand up the project in the US that would sort of be a headwind for the project. You know as well as potentially projects that want to try to go for alternative source of fundings Beyond membership, like for example European grants.

And these are three I think important use cases as to why you need an actual entity in the European territory to be able to you know access funding. Make people feel comfortable that there is a local asset ownership of the the trademark and the project assets and of course, you know being able to address specific problems and challenges that are European. Does that make sense?

The European Union is at the Forefront of a lot of the regulations that we see now coming into it and there's a lot of conversation about the need for more regulations around open source software Supply chains and a lot of folks are having these conversations. So do you guys think that your group will be at the Forefront of that conversation with the EU and then that may affect everybody globally ultimately. Yes.

Yes, I absolutely think that you know, especially in the wake of look for shell and you know, especially in my world in the banking sector has been really important. Wake up call to the fact that You know, everyone has a part to play in ensuring sustainability of the open source ecosystem. Not just, you know mere security but really are Developers paid for their contributions are you know open source projects actually sustainable in the long run how what's that health?

And so this is by no means original problem. Of course, the Linux Foundation has been you know Paving the way in working very closely with the White House through our open ssf initiative open source security Foundation putting together a really important, you know mobilization plan to address Open Source sustainability across the board. but again As you said there's a lot of conversations in Europe as well in investing in open source, supply chain and and open source sustainability.

So certainly there is an area where I think having a more You know substantial presence of the Linux foundation and and being able to bridge some of those conversations across regions is very important. Another area I think is really being able to. You know bring together some of this.

real or perceived potential conflicts, you know between between regions, I think especially, you know as Administration changes. We are now in a place where it's easier sort of to collaborate across the Atlantic and so I do think that that open source, you know gives a vital chance to sort of actually bring the conversation forward rather than sort of fostering silos, you know amongst the life as well. Do you think that the technocrats in the EU will understand these issues or are we really working at a base level Foundation of education and I'm asking the question because in the US there's a proposal in Congress talking about banning CVS and all applications used by the government which for anybody who's in software.

You know, that's kind of crazy. Yep. Well I think it's really hard question and the answer is not an easy one.

You know, we just released today. I'm gonna sort of try to be data driven in the answer here. We just released today our first Regional research world of Open Source Europe Spotlight 2022 and I think one of the key aspects that was uncovered was You know.

the fact that the there is a strong vision for open source here in Europe, but less so and understanding of how to get there both in terms of the policies and in terms of really what open source collaboration can enable meaning the you here definitely see Open source as a mean to achieve transparency. to achieve reuse Less so to use their convening power to actually bring all the different constituents together to drive to actually get to this idea of the digital Commons to actually get to these idea of you know, whatever the social goals. They're trying to get to and so I think the short answer to your question is.

That there's a lot of investment to be done on the why open source can be sort of a Way Forward behind us those technology sort of behind us concerns. So probably yeah the answer to questions. No, I don't think everyone will immediately understand the value proposition, but it behooves us to you know, Show also in Europe even more than what we've done already, you know, the amazing successes that and Collective value that the Linux International has been able to Foster the production of all over the world, you know in the in the Living Translation we have again a pretty even split representation across regions.

So if you're able to make a allies and known allies collaborate, well, I think there should be a possibility here for for Europe and the US to collaborate. So will you need like chapters by countries? Because well obviously Great Britain is not part of the you and not everybody in the you always agrees with each other, you know trying to get some Italian Guys to agree with the Spanish guys.

It's gonna be a problem right or with the friendship. so well Two points here one I still catch myself. One of our code names internally was lfvu and I still catch myself saying it publicly but the reality is that this is a left Europe This is not just lfu.

Our goal is really to address not just the block but also the UK where by the way, I have a major experience for my finance role, you know half of our members that are in London and in the UK and and so, you know, I I just think that first of all, it's important not to sort of limit ourselves to that then. Yes, you're right treating. There's no one size fits all as far as Europe goes and and you know, I think that is also one of the reasons why you need the European to really understand that cultural differences here.

You know back to our research. Some of the most interesting results was sort of slicing and Rising the results by region or Sorry by actual country. And yes, you're right.

You see very different levels of understanding of Open Source very different levels of you know, how useful open sources perceived to certain industry or to a certain sector in that specific country. And that's very much the funk. It's very much a function.

It seems to be from the research of sort of the broader understanding of Open Source the broader technology Investments, you know from a national government, so I think it's parameter to say that we will start lfu chapters in every in every country. I mean, I will be able I would love to be there in 12 months from now. But I think it's absolutely true that we can.

Foster collaborations at National level like it's not just the you it's not just you know Europe as a whole. I think we could see a special on the public sector side, you know collaboration across municipalities collaborations across, you know, different Ministries. There's there's I think a lot of ways to skin this cat or there's a lot of levels of granularity that the collaboration can happen.

There's a lot of cities that can become sister cities with each other even though yeah different countries. Yes. I mean as I I Well, I I think there's a huge potential there and I and I as much as I like to make jokes about my other fellow European countries, and you know, ultimately we're all on the same boat here.

How should they go about getting involved if you're a company in Europe? Because there's a lot of conversation now about a lot of people benefit from open source software, but they don't give back enough and there's a lot of issues around the security. So how do we get these organizations to contribute?

Because I think a lot of them are hamstrung. They don't really know where to get started or how to get started. Yes.

Well, I I certainly will try to reuse some of the successful recipes that that I think we're able to get, you know, the largest investment banks in the world to collaborate globally, you know, my community in Phoenix is sort of half and a half as I mentioned between London and New York and you know, There's really you know. I think from our perspective we need to continue investing both in the why and in the how we need to make sure that we continue showing. You know from a corporate perspective the ROI of Open Source the retirement which sometimes can take multiple years and oftentimes, you know, when you're talking to tech companies or to Banks, you know, they want to see a return in three six months a year.

And so there is certain an element of education and even evangelization that needs to be done there. But when you talk and we will continue of course investing on the how as well. I think the the to-do group especially the European chapter and the Linux foundation in general has done a fantastic job at accelerating, you know, once you have you're clear with the why how you gonna go about it?

But you know. I think the level of Engagement and the way companies engage. It's very much a function of their maturity and understanding of Open Source open again.

Why in the how and so look if you are If you have strategic leadership support and you have an hospital that allows your developers to contribute. I think the first and foremost way is put Sweat Equity in the community contributes your developers to your projects. If you are, you know, not yet there from for example policy standpoint again our research show that is an unbalanced from a consumption policies versus contribution policies.

Well, look, you can throw money at the problem in the sense that you should consider them not just membership in the lineups Foundation or other foundations, but direct to maintainer funding there are now several platforms that you know, allow that and encourage that and you know through the great work that you open ssf is doing we are starting to try and prioritize which are the top, you know hundred projects that the world depends on. Well that's probably good place to start if you're not ready. It's sort of commit to a foundation and of course, I'd love for folks to join us in a left Europe, but there's also direct to maintainer finding that's another that's another option.

I think Sweat Equity contribution. Giant foundations and their active maintainer funding will be made top three. All right, so we need code money and lawyers.

Yes. I think that's a good that's a good recap here much more synthetic than I am. Alright and just for the last little note.

So people Miss Dublin, where's the next big Meetup that they should be thinking about going to have these conversations. So I would like to see everyone at the first of all Linux Foundation membership Summit in Lake Tahoe not very close to Europe. But definitely again in the scope in the idea of sort of being Global that will be the major sort of meeting in November of all the Linus Foundation members and then you know, I plan to be back in Europe early in the year.

We will have another open source Summit and certainly cubecon in Amsterdam will be another great place to meet up. I would certainly love to Here from anyone at linuxdale fundesh. u.

Alright, send him the email, not me info Adelina solution that are you. Thank you. All right.

Yeah. Thanks for being on the show. Thank you so much for having me.

It was a pleasure. Thank you. Thank you.