Category: 4. Society-at-large
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Open source is not the infrastructure of modern society…
Cloud services are the actual infrastructure. Open source is the blueprints and building materials of our digital infrastructure. Infrastructure should be built from open source, but it is important to understand the difference between software and a service, because there is a person in the middle, the one operating the service. There will be no…
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A simple fun example of how a computer reads intent wrong
I read an article about India and wanted to know how much money “2 lakh” is in Euro. The search engine responded as follows:
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Whose open source freedom is it anyway?
It is 2021 and there is still a lot of fighting about “freedom” in open source software development. Here is an analytical breakdown of the issues. Freedom can refer to people or artifacts (source code). When it refers to people, it is typically freedom of choice regarding what to do. There are three main roles…
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Funding universal basic income with rent from your data
A person’s universal basic income (UBI) is income that this person is guaranteed to receive whatever their living circumstances. The income should allow the person to have a humane life, i.e. pay for food and housing, healthcare and so forth. One concern is that UBI may be too costly. Most assume that UBI will paid…
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Open Source and Public Policy (Slides)
In this talk, I explain the significance of the software industry for a country’s economy and how to strengthen it using open source. It is directed at public policy makers and the general public. This is the slide deck of a previously posted video. The deck is also available as a PDF for download.
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Open Source and Public Policy (Video)
In this short video, I explain the significance of the software industry for a country’s economy and how to strengthen it using open source. It is directed at public policy makers and the general public. Next to the Youtube embed, there is also an ad-free version courtesy of FAU, my main employer, as well as…