Private companies’ growing involvement could threaten the long-term viability of this essential software.
September 02, 2021
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Free and open source software (FOSS) is essential to much of the tech we use every day — from cars to phones to planes to the cloud. While traditionally, it was developed by an army of volunteer developers and given away for free, companies are increasingly taking a more active role in its development. But as companies buy up open source companies, bring development in house, and spin off their own for-profit versions of FOSS products, they could be endangering the future of this essential software. To maintain the viability and security of FOSS, companies should: 1) have a clear policy towards open source — preferably one that encourages employees to contribute to FOSS if feasible, 2) raise their level of awareness about the FOSS that they use and stay apprised of its vulnerabilities, and 3) keep the stability of the software they use in mind, and incentivize their employee contributions to focus on both features useful to the company as well as general security and maintenance.
