I don't think it's a controversial statement to say that the European Research Commission offers a disproportionately large amount of funding

Flu Conf 2025

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2024-11-30 12:00:05

I don't think it's a controversial statement to say that the European Research Commission offers a disproportionately large amount of funding for free or open-source software (FOSS). There are a lot of programs through which they fund European citizens and residents to produce FOSS, some of which will even fund people from beyond Europe if they're working on something that aligns with their definition of European values. I've benefited from such funding in the past, as have many people I respect, and I've encouraged a number of my friends to submit research proposals to help support their excellent software projects.

FOSDEM, which typically takes place in Brussels on the first weekend in February, is a big deal for people working in or adjacent to this ecosystem. For many independent developers or SMEs that produce FOSS software it's the biggest opportunity of the year to promote their projects, and I've seen firsthand that it produces a noticeable amount of extra traffic to project websites.

As you may know, many FOSS projects are maintained by a single developer, so I don't know why anyone thought it was a good idea to gather them all together in what is basically the peak of Europe's flu season. Many conference attendees jokingly refer to the FOSDEM Flu, which is an almost unavoidable a rite of passage.

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