It’s impossible to discount the reach and impact of open source software. That’s why last year, Sonatype declared February 3 as World Open Source Day.

And this isn’t limited to open source components or software engineers. The world of open source is vast, spanning every industry and garnering interest across many facets of our daily lives.

For example, in the US, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has open-sourced its rover program so anyone can use the same tools they use. Put another way, open source will likely be at the center of finding life on another planet and researching the vast cosmos.

Government involvement in open source isn’t limited to the US space program. Open source has been increasingly at the center of government talking points in the last couple of years (just look at the Executive Order on Improving Nation’s Cyber Security in the US and the Cyber Resiliency Act in the EU). Involvement of this kind is becoming a necessity, but it often focuses more on the negatives, especially with regard to vulnerabilities.

Open source is so much more.

And that’s a big part of our reason for dedicating an entire day to open source. Sonatype believes open source isn’t just about the projects themselves. To support open source means supporting the communities and the volunteers’ dedication to these projects. In many cases, there is no other outcome for contributors, beyond helping solve complex problems and improving the quality of people’s everyday lives. And in most cases, it’s done with little acknowledgement.

We also recognize that supporting open source isn’t just about building software applications. Many teams use open source tools, such as various flavors of Linux for their operating system of MS Office-like tools, such as LibreOffice. Many users find tremendous success with these options as (Read more...)