The Spirit of Open-Source

If you are an open-source enthusiast and have been involved with open-source communities, then you might have a sense of how remarkable the essence of open-source software/hardware development is. I too have been involved with open-source software development as a Student Developer in the Google Summer of Code 2018 with FOSSASIA and as a mentor in the Google Summer of Code 2019 and Google Code-in 2018 and 2019. Here is what I think open source is all about…

Have you ever thought what brings us all together despite considerable differences in our cultures, traditions, beliefs, ethnicity, religion and so on? When you log into your GitHub account, you find hundreds and thousands of developers from across the globe working on some impactful projects.

What do you think keeps these developers motivated? Do they get paid for their contributions? Mostly, No. Do they get recognition? Maybe, sometimes. Do they have free time? Haha! I guess no. Then, what is it that keeps these developers motivated?

I feel it is the willingness to solve the shared struggles of the society/community that keeps these developers motivated.

I define open-source software/hardware development as a blende of following values and virtues:

• Collaboration: Being able to come to a consensus despite differences in views.
• Patience: Not giving up on a problem despite difficulties and trying to solve them patiently.
• Passion: Being passionate to solve an issue or a problem for positive impact.
• Empathy: Empathising with your fellow developers and helping them learn as you go along.
• Inclusion, friendliness and kindness: Treating everybody with kindness irrespective of their origin.
• Devotion: As they say, ‘Rome was not built in a day.’ Solving any shared struggle requires devotion.
• Openness to constructive criticism: Being able to accept the fact that we, as humans, are prone to make mistakes. But, we need to realise our mistakes and rectify them in order to hone our skills as well as build better solutions to our shared struggles.
• Technical Skills: Obviously being technically skilled is a plus (though you can learn along with the community as you go along!).

I hope you too love the spirit and essence of open-source and embrace it to build robust and impactful solutions to the shared struggles of the society. 🙂