Structural changes in the open source ecosystem are occurring as a result of the rise of cloud computing Platforms as a Service (PaaS) that are disrup

Open Source Software and PaaS: Crisis and Adaptation

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Style Pass

2021-07-09 20:30:05

Structural changes in the open source ecosystem are occurring as a result of the rise of cloud computing Platforms as a Service (PaaS) that are disrupting the cycle of investment that sustains the ecosystem. The shift to cloud computing reduces the number of companies making direct investments in open source by several orders of magnitude and concentrates control of companies’ indirect investments in the hands of a few intermediaries that lack the same incentives as individual companies which ensured their ethical participation.

This constitutes a full blown crisis for the pay-it-forward soft economy of free and open source software. As a result, dramatic change is coming to the ecosystem, which is adapting in multiple ways that we’ll be exploring in upcoming posts.

I see many people complaining about the symptoms of these changes, about bad actors in the ecosystem. I see virtually no one talking about the structural reasons for these symptoms and what they mean for the future, let alone outlining potential scenarios, what they might mean and how we might affect those outcomes. This is the first in a series of posts that will attempt to do those things.