The Open Source Pledge
Exploring the evolution of open source software and its impact on the Tech landscape.
Welcome to the first edition of the Open Source Ready newsletter. This week's tech roundup comes from a podcast we did last year with Chad Whitacre.
I couldn't help but smile when I saw Sentry's provocative billboards around San Francisco calling out "Chief Freeload Officers" and other executive-level cheapskates. It's about time someone called attention to the open-source sustainability crisis with some well-placed humor and public shaming.
At the end of our podcast, we share good reads, and this week's focused on some serious power imbalances in our industry. From billboards shaming tech giants for their open-source freeloading to SREs becoming the unsung heroes (or perhaps "ops bitches," as one scathing critique puts it) of engineering departments — we're not pulling any punches today.
Meanwhile, a fascinating debate is unfolding about what exactly an SRE is supposed to be anymore. Remember when it was a prestigious, high-paying role for engineers who could code and keep systems running? Now it seems they've been relegated to thankless operational support. As someone who has watched this evolution firsthand, I can only say: the pendulum always swings back eventually.
Don't miss Dries Buytaert's insightful takes on the "maker-taker problem" in open source. As the founder of Drupal, he offers a refreshing perspective on how we might actually fix this imbalance without destroying what makes open source special.
If you're enjoying these weekly dispatches from the frontlines of tech culture and politics, hit that subscribe button. Next week, we'll be exploring the fascinating world of AI governance (or lack thereof) and why your job might be both safer and more endangered than you think.
Stay ready, bdougie
Listen to The Open Source Pledge
Tech Billboards Call Out Freeloaders
Sentry's provocative San Francisco billboards spotlight tech companies that benefit from open source without giving back, part of their campaign to address the sustainability crisis facing open source maintainers.
HN Debates SRE Evolution
Hacker News discussion explores how Site Reliability Engineering roles have evolved over time, featuring debates about the value, responsibilities, and position of SREs within modern engineering organizations.
SRE Role Loses Meaning
A critique of how SRE positions have devolved into operational support roles for “real programmers,” creating a producer-consumer divide that devalues operations work.
Rachel delivers a scathing critique exposing how SRE roles have degraded into thankless operational support positions. “Real programmers” increasingly treat SREs as mere service providers rather than valued engineering partners, creating a harmful hierarchy within technical teams.
The HN discussion adds valuable perspectives to this conversation.
Balancing Open Source Ecosystems
Dries Buytaert examines the complex maker-taker dynamics within open source communities. His analysis explores strategies for creating sustainable ecosystems where contributors receive proper support and recognition while maintaining the core benefits of free software for all users.
Fixing Open Source Imbalance
Dries Buytaert tackles the sustainability challenge facing open source projects by proposing concrete solutions to rebalance the relationship between contributors (“makers”) and users (“takers”). His approach aims to ensure long-term viability for projects while preserving the fundamental benefits that make open source valuable.