FOSS Everywhere

Fifteen years ago, proprietary software was the norm for software development and Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) was the exception. In recent years, this equation has flipped and FOSS has become the norm for software development. Almost all emerging technologies like cloud computing, IOT, AI/ML are built as FOSS. Driving this change is the Collaborative Innovation Model (CIM) of FOSS based on collaboration, community and the shared ownership of knowledge. This CIM has led to FOSS being the driving force for a vast spectrum of software--from small IOT devices to the ubiquitous smartphones to the largest of supercomputers and even the Mars Rover. This session unpacks the reasons why FOSS has become a powerful force in democratizing access to technology.

Venkatesh Hariharan (Venky) is the India Representative of the Open Invention Network (OIN), an organization that protects the FOSS community from patent litigation.

Hariharan has 34 years of experience in journalism and public policy with organizations like Indian Express, IIIT Bangalore, Red Hat, Google, iSPIRT, the Data Governance Network at IDFC Institute and FOSS United. In these roles, he has been involved in key policy issues like open source in government, open standards, software patents, Indian Language Computing, free speech on the Internet, privacy, building and evangelizing Digital Public Goods, and many others. His long term interest is in democratizing access to technology and knowledge.

Hariharan was Executive Editor of Express Computer, a publication from the Indian Express Group and the first Indian to be selected for Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Knight Science Journalism Fellowship in 1998-99. At MIT, Hariharan looked at technologies that can be used to advance India’s development. Open Source Software stood out as the most powerful at a time when expensive proprietary software was the norm. On returning to India, Hariharan co-founded a non-profit called IndLinux.org and wrote an article titled, “Why Linux Makes Sense for India.” IndLinux worked with linguistic groups in India and abroad and is partly responsible for the fact that Linux desktops are now available in 17 Indian languages. Hariharan was awarded the Indian Open Source Personality of the Year award in 2006 by the organizers of the Linux Asia conference. Hariharan went on to serve as Corporate Affairs Director of Red Hat (Asia Pacific) from 2004 to 2011 and as head of Public Policy and Government Affairs for Google India from 2011-2012. He also served as Director Fintech for iSPIRT and set up the Omidyar funded Data Governance Network at IDFC Institute. He has extensive connections across industry, academia and government in India and abroad.

Hariharan’s writings on technology and open source can be seen at the following links:

www.venkytech.medium.com

https://opensource.com/users/venky