Open Source as a Virtuous Byproduct

“We're not seeing the banks or the airlines, or the bigger retail outfits open-sourcing various bits of software. Why not? I think that the key distinction is, ‘Is this company one where the engineering staff or technical staff has a lot of leverage within the organization?’" —Martin Fowler, Chief Scientist

One of the themes highlighted in the April 2016 edition of the Thoughtworks Technology Radar was “Open Source as a Virtuous Byproduct.”

That’s a fairly high-minded phrase that’s worth exploring further. In this podcast, Thoughtworks' Technology Advisory Board Members Badri Janakiraman, Martin Fowler, Mike Mason and Rebecca Parsons discuss this theme and the general state of open source in the industry. The lively roundtable discussion touches on product development, security, technical culture, and machine learning as they relate to open source.

“I think the community and cultural aspects of open source is something that is often not given the prominence that it needs. As it's generally understood, open source projects have a community associated with them and there should be a mechanism for communication between the maintainers of that open source project and the people who use it,” Rebecca shared.

The podcast ends with a gentle reminder from Badri: “The availability of tools and source code out there does not mean that we take away the responsibility of development teams in organizations to have discipline and rigor in their development processes.”

Check out the Technology Radar for more on the trends and technology that is shaping our future: www.thoughtworks.com/radar

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