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Missing Element in EU Open Source Strategy
The EU published its Open Source Strategy
https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/en_ec_open_source_strategy_2020-2023.pdf
I have been doing free and open source software since 1997.
I read the EU OSS document. It is all very nice. I wish it would come true. But it misses a couple vital points.
The first point is that FOSS is generally led and developed by a very small number of people. These people have a focus on their particular problem. Most FOSS projects would be destroyed if all of the EU countries suddenly depended on a "hobby" project. They need to identify key projects that every country needs.
The second point is they missed the "money question". I have contacted businesses, governments, charities, universities, and philanthropists to ask for funding. I have tried the "patronage" model and even asked developers to contribute. So far I have raised $0 dollars.
FOSS development is not free. I estimate that I have spent about $3000 (US) dollars every year for the last 20 years. I have to buy hardware, pay for a net connection, attend conferences, and pay for a website. My time spent on fixing things or adding features for other people accounts for $0 of that.
After 50 years I have the benefit of meeting and getting advice from world-class experts. For one project, an email exchange is reasonable. For a whole EU project, this does not scale. You need to find a funding model.
The EU does have some funding efforts, like the NSF in the U.S. Of course, the NSF has rules like: "We will not give grants to projects that compete with existing proprietary products" and "We require a fiduciary organization (i.e. a university office to take 50% of the grant as 'overhead'".
I tried to get companies to create a "free accounting organization" that would receive and manage grant money at minimal overhead. Even that failed.
So this document is pretty. But it is obvious that it is just a daydream.
- timthorn 6y ago> Most FOSS projects would be destroyed if all of the EU countries suddenly depended on a "hobby" project Can you expand on this? I haven't understood your argument as to why it would be the case.
- daly 6y agoFOSS projects with a very few, part time, developers (usually only 1), have very limited time to handle bug/feature requests. Half the time I'm spending on my projects involves fixing bugs introduced by changing tools (e.g. the project no longer compiles because somebody changed the C compiler, or the Ubuntu linux libraries no longer match the RedHat ones). Imagine how much grief was caused by the requirement to ASK people about cookies, which we see everywhere. Or the grief about http vs https, encryption, IP4 vs IP6, accessibility, host vs mobile page sizes, Apple developer fees, copyright and trademark issues, bandwidth requirements, timezone and country-specific issues, font issues (e.g. cyrillic), social grief (master vs main), etc. Note that almost none of these have anything to do with the application but require developer time and attention. Oh, and don't forget, if your project is used everywhere then people will develop attacks against it. If there is a security issue with your application you might get sued and lose everything. Legal issues alone are a nightmare. Do you know the copyright law differences between EU and US law? Even large companies like Facebook seem to be struggling: Facebook said it might stop operating in Europe if the EU suspends all data transfers to the US. https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-eu-us-data-transfer-could-block-service-2020-9 https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-eu-us-data-transfer...