Consultant Emily Omier discusses her work with open source companies on product strategy and positioning. She explains the unique challenges and opportunities such companies face, particularly the tension between commercial offerings and open source projects. Emily highlights the importance of solid product strategy, shares her process from customer interviews to leadership workshops, and addresses common misconceptions and struggles companies encounter. Additionally, she touches upon the strategic reasons for open-sourcing software.

00:00 Introduction and Guest Background

00:16 Understanding Product Strategy in Open Source

01:58 Engaging with Companies at Different Stages

03:10 Workshop and Internal Knowledge Surfacing

04:16 Differentiating Open Source and Commercial Offerings

07:09 Common Struggles and Misunderstandings

10:35 Community Building and Its Importance

14:21 Open Sourcing Projects: Reasons and Benefits

17:28 Experience at All Things Open

18:07 Conclusion and Upcoming Events

In this episode, we sit down with Luke Hinds, CTO of Stacklok and creator of Sigstore, to learn from his extensive background in open source security. Luke shares insights into his journey and passion for security, highlighting the thrill of the 'cat and mouse' dynamics. He discusses Stacklok’s project, Minder, a software supply chain platform designed to streamline security while boosting developer productivity. Luke also touches on Trusty, another Stacklok initiative aimed at assessing the security risks of open source packages using data science. The conversation expands to the impact of AI on code contributions and developer identity, reflecting on the evolving dynamics in software development and security. Finally, Luke shares thoughts on the ongoing challenges and opportunities in bridging the gap between operations and engineering to maintain robust security in fast-paced development environments.

00:00 Introduction 

02:29 Personal Reflections on Security

04:14 Introduction to Stacklok and Minder

05:02 Minder's Features and Capabilities

07:38 Target Audience and Use Cases for Minder

10:41 Balancing Security and Developer Productivity

13:00 The Importance of Seamless Security

13:52 Introduction to Trusty: Understanding Open Source Security Risks

14:45 Analyzing Malicious Packages and Developer Contributions

18:06 The Role of Developer Identity in Open Source Projects

19:20 AI's Impact on Code Development and Security

20:10 Challenges and Future Directions in Developer Identity

23:31 Concluding Thoughts and Future Conversations

Luke Hinds is the CTO of Stacklok. He is the creator of the open source project sigstore, which makes it easier for developers to sign and verify software artifacts. Prior to Stacklok, Luke was a distinguished engineer at Red Hat.

Deb Bryant discusses her career journey and the significant role of open source software in public policy, particularly in the US and Europe. She highlights her work with the Open Source Initiative, Oregon State University, and Red Hat, emphasizing the importance of open source in government operations and cybersecurity. Deb also addresses the challenges and evolution of open source policies, the critical need for sustainability in open source projects, and her current focus on AI's impact on the ecosystem. She concludes by advocating for harmonized international regulations and human-centered AI approaches.

00:00 Introduction

00:44 Government and Open Source Software

01:38 Experiences in the Private Sector

02:14 Open Source in Public Policy

04:31 Cybersecurity and Open Source

07:42 Sustainability in Open Source

15:05 Future of Open Source and AI

18:53 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Deb Bryant, Director, US Policy and Founder, Open Policy Alliance

Throughout her career, Deborah has lent her voice to supporting open source projects and developers, building bridges between academia, industry, non-profits, and government along the way. Today she provides guidance to open source foundations seeking to support public policy development in open technology domains. She has worked in emerging technology and has been an advocate of free and open source software and the community that makes it so since the 1990s.

Deborah is board director emeritus at the Open Source Initiative (OSI); serves on the DemocracyLab board; serves on the advisory boards of Open Source Elections Technology Foundation and the OASIS Open Project, and as an advisor to the Brandeis University Open Technology Management program. She also represents OSI as a member of the Digital Public Goods Alliance. For eight years prior to her reentry into the nonprofit world, she led one of the world’s largest open source program offices (OSPO) at Red Hat where her global team was responsible for the company’s strategy and stewardship in open source software communities. While at Red Hat she served on the Eclipse Foundation board for two years.

Deborah’s published academic research includes the Use of Open Source in Cybersecurity in the Energy Industry and Collaborative Models for Creating Software in the Public Sector.

In this episode, Andreea Munteanu of Canonical discusses Data Science Stack, an out-of-the-box machine learning environment solution. Emphasizing the industry's shift to Kubernetes and cloud native applications, she outlines her vision for accessible and secure open source AI. The conversation also covers the importance of community contribution, challenges faced by data scientists, and the future of AI being open source.

00:00 Introduction 

01:50 Data Science Stack Introduction

03:31 Community and Collaboration

06:30 Getting Started with Generative AI

08:56 Andreea's Journey into Data Science

10:59 The Future of AI and Open Source

14:57 Encouraging Open Source Contributions

17:28 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Henrik Blixt leads a Product Management team responsible for the Intuit core platform, where he defines the strategy and direction that has shaped Intuit’s cloud native platform based on CNCF projects like Kubernetes, Envoy, Istio, Prometheus, Argo (and many more!) that’s used by 7000 developers and serving over 100M users.

Being a passionate member of the open source community for almost 30 years, from Linux through OpenStack and Kubernetes, Henrik is currently focused on the Argo project as a core maintainer. He also represents Intuit across other committees, like the CNOE project and the broader Linux Foundation, where he shares experiences and best practices from Intuit’s use of open source, making sure end users are heard and their pain points understood.

He loves engaging with the community and has been a prolific speaker and event program committee member across ArgoCon, GitOpsCon, Kubecon over the years. A native of Sweden, earning his B.Sc in information systems from the University of Gothenburg, he now resides in California with his family.

Joshua Alphonse discusses the potential of small language models, highlighting their efficiency and applicability in various domains such as financial compliance and multimedia processing. The conversation also touches upon the intersection of creativity and technology, AI's role in the future of multimedia, and the significance of open source models. Joshua emphasizes the importance of eliminating biases in AI and the exciting advancements in agentic AI and spatial AI, projecting how these innovations might shape the tech landscape in the coming years.

00:00 Introduction and Welcome

00:09 Joshua's Background and Experience

00:34 Current Projects and Innovations

03:04 The Importance of Small Language Models

06:14 Open Source and AI Ethics

10:13 Future of AI and Exciting Developments

12:20 Challenges and Controversies in AI

17:47 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

In this episode, we celebrate Free and Open Source Software Month this February by chatting with some of Intel’s own open source software and community enthusiasts, Arun Gupta and Shirley Bailes, about open source, its business value, and how to unlock innovation through openness. Arun discusses his book, 'Fostering Open Source Culture,' detailing his journey from past experiences at major tech companies to the process and inspiration behind writing the book. The conversation covers the importance of fostering an open source culture, including the roles of various companies and foundations. Shirley shares her first-time author experience, emphasizing the role of foundations in maintaining a sustainable open source ecosystem. The discussion touches on the benefits of corporate engagement in open source, the challenges of proving ROI, and the critical need for a new generation of contributors. Arun and Shirley highlight real-world case studies and provide practical advice for companies looking to embrace and invest in open source culture.

00:00 Introduction

00:33 Arun Gupta’s Journey in Open Source

03:23 Shirley Bailes on First-time Authorship

04:42 The Role of Foundations in Open Source

07:17 Leadership in Open Source Foundations

11:27 The Business Case for Open Source

15:40 The Importance of Community and Collaboration

25:18 Conclusion and Book Information

Episode Transcript

In this episode, we speak with Udi Hofesh and Itiel Schwartz from Komodor about their roles and the mission of their company. Komodor aims to simplify Kubernetes at scale by providing tools for managing, troubleshooting, and optimizing Kubernetes clusters. They discuss the unique features of Komodor, including their approach to using AI to address Kubernetes issues and their involvement in open source projects like Helm Dashboard. The conversation also touches upon the new native integration for managing Kubernetes add-ons and the future direction of the company.

00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction

00:27 What is Komodor?

00:59 Challenges in Kubernetes

01:32 Komodor's Unique Solutions

02:27 Target Audience and Developer Relations

06:56 Open Source Contributions

14:09 AI Integration in Komodor

18:47 New Features and Future Plans

In this episode, Sarah Gran and Brandon Pitman from the Internet Security Research Group (ISRG) dive into their projects, Divvi Up and Let's Encrypt. They discuss the creation and impact of Divvi Up, a privacy-preserving metrics aggregation service, and its role in protecting individual data while providing valuable insights to organizations. They share the journey from collaborating with Google and Apple on COVID-19 exposure notifications to enhancing privacy for Firefox users. The conversation also explores the importance of TLS certificates provided by Let's Encrypt and the challenges and advancements in the realm of online privacy.

00:00 Introduction and Guest Introductions

01:22 Overview of DivviUp

02:29 Privacy Concerns and Data Security

06:18 Real-World Applications and Examples

11:28 Technical Details and Protocols

19:53 Open Source and Community Involvement

20:39 Conclusion and Final Thoughts