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Invited Talk Intermediate

Open Source is a Gift Economy

Approved
Session Description

Open Source is not a market economy but a gift economy. In this talk I will define the two and explain the difference between subsidizing and sustaining Open Source. I will discuss how Open Source functions internally as well as how it interfaces with the market economy external to it. I will present practical advice on funding Open Source projects and I will introduce the Open Source Pledge and the Open Source Endowment.

Key Takeaways

  • There are many ways to subsidize Open Source projects.

  • New initiatives aim to sustain Open Source.

References

https://opensourcepledge.com/
https://endowment.dev/
https://openpath.quest/

Session Categories

Community
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Speakers

Chad Whitacre
Head of Open Source | Sentry

Chad Whitacre got his start in Open Source in 2001. He participated in the Python web development boom of the 2000s that gave rise to Django and Flask (his own contribution was Aspen). Along the way, he experienced first-hand the tension between volunteer Open Source work and paid closed source work, so he spent the 2010s as founder of a crowdfunding startup called Gittip (later Gratipay). Now here in the 2020s his role is Head of Open Source at Sentry, where he leads the Open Source Pledge and Fair Source initiatives. He is on the board of the Open Source Endowment, and has a YouTube show called Open Path.

 https://chadwhitacre.com/
Chad Whitacre

Reviews

Chad is well known for the Open Source Pledge initiative, with more than 2 million USD pledged to pay open source maintainers. Conversations around sustainability of FOSS are good to have in the conference. This talk is expected to serve as a primer. This has been discussed and approved as an invited talk.

Reviewer #1 Approved