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Feature It is 2025. Linux will turn 34 and the Free Software Foundation (FSF) 40. For the EU and Europe at large, which is famously experimental with government deployments of open source tech, behind initiatives to promote open licensing, and whose governments promote equal opportunity for FOSS vendors in public tendering, it's a crunch point.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s it was about free access to software, about the ability to change and contribute. But the whole selling point of open source has changed a lot in the past two or so decades. There is no question the legacy way of developing software behind closed doors inhibits collaboration and innovation. And open source was initially just a way to work around that – giving people a way to access source code and allow interested parties to contribute with the things they wanted to see when the code ran. Later, it became a business model where these aspects morphed into the buzzwords "collaboration" and "innovation." And these days? The best way to frame it is by quoting the Linux Foundation when Microsoft joined the winning team nearly 10 years ago:
"Open source has won." What does that mean? It has become ubiquitous. Open source software today powers the majority of modern IT and the cloud. Directly or indirectly, every user of computer services depends on it.
Global vs local
When you talk to the officials of the Linux Foundation, they will tell you that "open source is global." But if you dig deeper, there are exceptions. Yes, the pure technical tasks and procedures are global. Everybody across the globe can contribute and shape how the software evolves. And there is no general regulation which forbids the use of open source software in a particular part of the world. But – and this is a big but – people or regions can be locked out from accessing the needed software repositories. Also, there are regional requirements for using and contributing to the software which might be not the radar of the key decision-makers who are based in a different part of the world.
There is that and there is more. There are as many ways to approach open source as there are regions in the world, but over the past few decades, Europe has been trying to operate in lockstep to achieve goals collaboratively, arguably with differing levels of success.
The geo-political situation in recent years has triggered significant demand in Europe for the the region to be independent of what happens in other areas of the world. A famous example is the acquisition of Github by Microsoft in 2018. People started to look for alternatives. Yes, one can also host software repositories on Gitlab. Good, but for some Gitlab also raised concerns due to the fact that its corporate headquarters are in the USA. Being headquartered in the US, as Microsoft's execs have admitted, means the CLOUD Act and Patriot Act then apply to stored data, which basically destroys all safety rules for private information storage for people living outside the US.
As a result, some in open source, for example, decided to lock down access to software repositories hosted at Github. Others opted for entities like Codeberg, a Git-compatible software repository framework hosted and run out of Europe. In that situation, the CLOUD Patriot Act doesn't apply, but regulation is still in place: policies like the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and the Cyber Resiliency Act (CRA) are in play. So the demand for geo-local services and software is not new. But the speed and power of that demand has definitely accelerated in the last few years.
The last piece of the puzzle are the European-Union specific requirements towards open source. That includes regulations, compliance requirements and other demands. The tricky question is how a developer can make themselves aware of the regs and learn the requisite skills to comply. The big governance organizations like the Linux Foundation, the OpenInfra Foundation, or the Free Software Foundation have created legal entities in Europe to help cover this. That is good start – but only the beginning.
These entities need to connect with the decision makers in Europe, the European Union and the particular countries. A good example is the Linux Foundation Europe. They hired recently Paula Grzegorzewska, who was part of the OpenForum Europe for six years. She knows how the people tick and think in Brussels and the type of language they understand and will accept. Having the right people in place could catalyze the conversation with officials across the continent about open source and the geo-local requirements and demands that go with it.
Open source at work in Europe
The Linux Foundation recently surveyed approximately 300 companies and interviewed 14 experts in Europe to produce a report on the state of play in open source in the region. It found widespread adoption of open source software. Leading the charge is operating systems (64 percent) followed by cloud technologies (55 percent). However, reported willingness to adopt open source at the C-suite level (62 percent) was quite low compared to how many employees wished to use it (86 percent). Only 34 percent of the companies reporting having or maintaining an open source strategy. Although a few (22 percent) even have a so called Open Source Programme Office (OSPO). On the positive side, 56 percent of those surveyed said they think the benefits of open source software outweigh the costs. So, there is a general interest and belief, but the strategic thinking is missing.
Looking at the survey more critically, it becomes obvious the companies using open source software see themselves in a pure consumer role – as with proprietary software. Only 28 percent of them employ a full-time contributor or maintainer of open source projects. On the other hand, 81 percent recognize the very high value of doing so. Again, there is belief but it is not backed up by business reality – eg, investment. There is perhaps light at the end of the tunnel. Almost every second organization reported that it actively contributes to the projects it depends on. And this happens across the different sectors and industries surveyed – automotive, finance, telecommunications, energy, and logistics.
Meanwhile, we see the usual suspects on the perceived benefits side: innovation (58 percent), industry standards and interoperability (54 percent), transparency (49 percent), reducing operating costs (48 percent), and collaboration (48 percent).
What are the top priorities for Europe regarding open source? According the Foundation survey, "building open source alternatives to technology monopolies" (55 percent) is in the lead. Next comes "accelerating government adoption of open source software" with 52 percent. Technology-wise the focus is on operating systems (43 percent), AI and machine learning (38 percent), and cybersecurity (38 percent).
Looking ahead, it is clear that European respondents are willing to change their current passive consumption of open source to an active participation. 45 percent of the respondents said they would like to see their organizations "invest more in sponsoring the projects they depend on." "Provision of developer training" and "increasing upstream collaboration and contributions" is second with 37 percent. The main barriers to success for that are "legal or licensing concerns" (31 percent), uncertain Return on Investment (28 percent) and "fear of leaking intellectual property" (24 percent).
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Looking at all these figures it is crystal clear: Europe has to stand up and be counted if it wants to be a modern part of the open source ecosystem. Using the software and acknowledging the benefits it provides is not good enough. That is a mindset from 15+ years ago. Contribution and support like funding or investing is how it works today. Having developers in key positions in a project allows a company to influence and even shape its future and strategic direction. That is obviously a clever action for a far-sighted company that depends on a particular open source software to take. Bodies like the Linux Foundation Europe are here to help.
Also, the demand for digital sovereignty is on the rise in Europe, and all sensible answers to how that could be done are based on open source software. Well-known examples include Neonephos, Open Internet Stack, EuroStack, and IPCEI-CIS (Important Project of Common European Interest – Cloud Infrastructure and Services).
When it comes to open source, Europe needs to stop talking, and start acting. ®
