lessons learned working in Open Source
Who?
- Niko Wenselowski
- GitHub: okin
- Open Source Aficionado
- Python developer at day & night
What is Open Source?
- Anything where the blueprint/recipe/plan/… is open to anyones eyes
- Has to be human readable and understandable
- Distribution is possible
- Modification and redistribution is possible
- There are usually license terms applied
Open = Free?
- free software not necessarily open
- open software not necessarily free
Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS)
- FLOSS and OSS often used synonymous
- FLOSS focuses on social, political and ethical aspects of open source software
Open…
- … Access: science literature
- … Beer: Brew Dog, Vores øl
- … Content: Internet Archive (everything), LibriVox (audiobooks), Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (pictures from space)
- … Data: large datasets; often government-financed data, but not limited to. Examples: Wikipedia, GovData, Deutsche Bahn
- … Hardware: Arduino (physical computing), RepRap (3D printer)
- … Maps: OpenStreetMap
- … Weather: OpenWeatherMap
uib GmbH
- uib.de, Twitter @uibDE
- founded 1995 in Mainz
- develops & maintains opsi
- uib ♥ open source
- Looking for like-minded developers :)
OSS benefits
- Transparency
- Trust
- Customisation possible
- Users can implement their wanted features
- Sharing is caring ♥
- OSS will survive
- If you care for your customers go Open Source!
Open Source business model
- Consulting
- Customising
- Implementing special requirements
- Providing ready-to-run solutions
- Maintenance
- Providing useful services/solutions around your product
- Focus on providing service to your customers
Community? Awesome!
- Provide a place to chat
- You can't enforce participation
Communication
Yes, documentation is important!
- Allows everyone to learn
- Can save a lot of time
- Good documentation isn't easy
- Improving documentation is a great way to contribute
History
- Keep some records
- Looking back can be a very nice experience
From hobby to job
- If you code for work in your free time it is still work!
- Make sure to pause sometimes!
- A non-code hobby can be a good idea!
Have fun at Hacktoberfest!
Licensing
- Can affect your future work
- Choose wisely
Save your users time!
- Easy setup
- Automate where possible
- Re-use proven concepts
- You will benefit aswell
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