How Open Source made this decade awesome!
It’s 2020 already! Rather, it’s not just the start of a new year, but a new decade as well. That realisation is a little overwhelming, especially when we think of the growth curve that the tech industry has seen in the last decade. Rapid changes, modern advancements and never-say-no-to-disruption attitude has helped us evolve so much! Open source software, specifically, has seen a progression that’s almost unparalleled, and that’s commendable.
At the beginning of the decade, the most common headlines I remember reading were along the lines of ‘free software vs open source.’ And in this year itself, more than 36000 articles on open source have been published online! Till about five years ago, investors seemed to be skeptical about investing in open source and its business model. As of now, IBM has acquired Red Hat for $34 billion, MongoDB is worth more than $4 billion and Wall Street is flooded with investors who want a piece of the pie. The way I see it, open source software is the best of both worlds when it comes to choice and innovation. No other way of development gives you the freedom to evolve the way open source does, and the best part is that you can keep adding on to it!
The playing field is vast and unexplored still, but some innovations have definitely created long lasting impact. On the top of this list, you guessed it, is cloud computing. It has to be. Cloud has changed the entire functioning of not just IT, but various other industries, who today cannot even think of operating in a system where cloud does not exist. It has not only freed enterprises from tedious legal and purchasing approvals, but also freed developers who struggled with legacy software and clunky systems. Cloud, thus, is almost synonymous with seamlessness for IT operations, and has truly been a ground-breaking revelation. Developer productivity has increased massively since the cloud picked up pace in 2010, and open source has been a great enabler for the SaaS revolution as well.
GitHub is the next best thing that open source thrived upon. It made collaboration so much more seamless by unlocking the social aspect of coding. Collaboration was always at the heart of open source, but it is GitHub that really delivered on this promise, and as we can see, the rest is history. Another movement sparked up in this decade, along with Git, and that’s the container movement. Containerisation emerged long before the 2010s, but has really picked up only in the last few years, thanks to Docker. Docker has helped enhance the developer experience unlike anything else, and reinvented software in its own way. From googling what Kubernetes and Docker is to taking part in conferences all year round, we’ve come a long way, and the journey has only begun.
The long mile, though, is not an easy one to walk, and as much as open source has evolved, the ‘open source sustainability crisis’ is also a reality. Since this is mutually developed software, the community is still the most pivotal to its creation. People don’t seem to realise that it’s not really free, the economics just work differently. It is the community that builds it, enhances performance and points out shortcomings. The last couple of years have seen a significant shift in the developers’ involvement, which is an inevitable reality, but one that’s a cause for concern.
However, as we step into a new year and a new decade, I am confident that we’ll see much more growth. The list of predictions for the coming year is endless, but here’s what I think will make the cut to the top:
- New beginnings: Many more companies like Red Hat are expected to come up from among the open source gene pool, as open source becomes the starting point for almost every other new technology that emerges. It is increasingly becoming a part of core systems and software being used in the enterprise, and a healthier cohort of new businesses to overtake the traditional is always exciting!
- Rise of the developer: Enterprises and software organisations will need to become more cognizant of developer needs as they grow. Kind of tricky, if you ask me, as ensuring the right mix of tech and talent can be tough, but there’s no greater need of the hour. Especially when it comes to open source, blending in with the community and taking learnings from there will become even more pressing for hiring and recruiting managers,
- Customer driven software: We spoke of the involvement of the community, but another interesting new trend that is emerging is the involvement of the customer. As we move towards businesses that are more customer centric than services and products, that becomes an important perspective to consider. Customer driven innovations are sure to make the rounds across all industries, but tech will lead that revolution for sure!
