The Future of Open Source: Five Socio-Economic Predictions
Session Abstract
Software, like all technologies, is shaped by economic principles. This keynote explores these forces‘ impact on FOSS and proprietary models. By examining past trends and current developments, it offers insights into FOSS’s future amid global changes, concluding with five predictions for the Open-Source ecosystem.
Session Description
Software is one of the greatest inventions of mankind. Like other technological breakthroughs, both closed-source software and Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS) are shaped by fundamental economic principles. What insights can we, as advocates for software, glean from these economic forces? Given this knowledge, how will FOSS develop in the upcoming years of global change?
The keynote explores the interaction of software and business looking at the role two essential economic ideas play: The division of labor and zero marginal costs. The speaker explains both theories based on past technologies, applies them to the software ecosystem, and highlights the limitations inherent in both FOSS and closed source software. The presentation concludes with five predictions regarding the evolution of the FOSS ecosystem amidst the tensions of geopolitics, rapid digitalization, and demographic shifts
