Category Archives: Open Source

OSS, Promotions, and Lava Lamps

How can promotion boards be hostile or hurtful to open source technology? We talk about the dynamics of corporate support in open source technology, and if being rewarded for internal work at companies translates into challenges for open source technology.

This discussion starts to peel apart what makes open source technology sustainable, and what it works for. We bring up an analogy of a lava lamp where things heat up and then cool down as part of a natural cycle, which can be a normal cycle for all software, and that led us back to how promotion boards work.

We covered a lot of ground through the dynamics of corporate software governance and open source and interweaving those together.

Transcript: otter.ai/u/nZS6rtcam88JUuqMctOiEyWq5G4
Image: www.pexels.com/photo/food-cold-d…nk-glass-5677999/

Rob’s Hot Take:

In the Cloud 2030 podcast on April 19th, Rob Hirschfeld discusses the challenges of sustaining open source projects and the dynamics of job review boards. The conversation highlights the common evolution of software projects, where initial excitement and rapid development give way to stabilization, increasing complexity, and less excitement. The key takeaway is the need to recognize and reward individuals contributing to the maintenance and extension of existing projects, emphasizing the importance of such work for communities, companies, and society. Join the discussion at the2030.cloud for diverse opinions and insights.

APIs With Composable State

What makes API’s complex? In this episode, we talk about how we compose APIs into higher level systems, and how we think about the design elements that go into building durable, reusable API’s.

This is a classic topic for us, and in this discussion we looked beyond the API itself and started talking about the state of the system and how you manage that state.

Transcript: otter.ai/u/Oae5e_ay0d_l48TmWk3PO3lpIDU
Image: www.pexels.com/photo/a-nacho-chi…ng-sauce-5848731/

Rob’s Hot Take:

In the Cloud 2030 podcast on April 21st, Rob Hirschfeld delves into the complexity of APIs, emphasizing the layered and nested nature of API systems. The discussion unveils the challenges of managing distributed state within APIs, where each layer needs to be aware of and interact with the state of adjacent or underlying APIs. The key insight is that without a well-understood distributed state model at the architectural level, building resilient APIs becomes inherently complex. Join the conversation at the2030.cloud for a comprehensive exploration of API design challenges and solutions.

Reliable License Models

We talk about software licensing in open source, and what it means to the broader market. In fact, we cover how it’s changing what the market actually is!

This is not not just open source licensing in general because at the end we didn’t care about the license. We are more concerned about utility, serviceability and operability of the products we use. We need to understand whether or not we can rely on them!

In short, the supply chain of the software was much more important than the licenses of the software

Transcript: otter.ai/u/kH-vbVxoymH9GGdNEi3jvF07c5s
Image: www.pexels.com/photo/gray-planes…om-window-127441/

Rob’s Hot Take:

Rob Hirschfeld, CEO and co-founder of RackN and host of the Cloud 2030 Podcast, reflects on the October 28th discussion about software licensing. He highlights the industry’s indifference towards software licensing as a critical battleground and questions the necessity of open source for good software, asserting that system support, maintenance, and trusted partners are more crucial. While acknowledging the importance of community goods like Kubernetes for creating abstraction layers, Hirschfeld emphasizes that the ultimate focus should be on the supply chain and invites listeners to explore the extended conversation at the2030.cloud.

Software Supply Chains [#Log4Shell]

Our scheduled topic was supply chains generally, but the Log4Shell vulnerability dominated the discussion. We dove into the challenge of patching and fixing a library that is literally in nearly every device or service for years and years.

That led us to supply chains in the context of software, and specifically Java Log4j. This is a critical topic and our conversation about it was very thoughtful. We really covered the angles of what it takes to produce and maintain a supply chain for software. Then we discussed alternatives and things to consider when you building anything: software products or physical products in which embedded systems and components impact your designs.

Transcript: otter.ai/u/CJ8pYF1La6tetFasqZhEojo_zoY
Image: www.pexels.com/photo/carton-cont…-in-rows-6294430/

Rob’s Hot Take:

Rob Hirschfeld, CEO and co-founder of RackN and host of the Cloud 2030 Podcast, reflects on the December 16th discussion centered around the supply chain, particularly focusing on Log4j and software components. He underscores the importance of understanding the provenance of software components and emphasizes the necessity of maintaining a robust patch and update process, especially considering embedded systems like Java. Hirschfeld advocates for a shift in mindset towards viewing software as an ongoing process rather than a static deliverable, inviting listeners to explore the insightful discussion further at the2030.cloud.

Hot Take: Software Right to Repair? Is that OSS?

Hello, I’m Rob Hirschfeld, CEO, co founder of RackN with a Hot Take from the July 13 DevOps Lunch and Learn conversation about the Right to Repair.

In this episode, we’re discussing how it could be possible for you, the consumer, to take products built and maintained by a company and maintain, change, own, and extend the product’s use past the life of the vendor of that product by getting fixes and repairs that the vendor doesn’t want to offer. Right now, the right to repair is essential from a consumer perspective, yet these rights seem to erode further every day. We are living in a society that doesn’t value the right to repair as a product feature, and we want to ignore that and get things that are easy to use and disposable.

As a consumer and as a company creating products, it makes me wonder if this narrative will switch. What will drive people to decide they want to control and to be able to repair, not just outsource, all of these components, assuming that they can quickly replace the device or patch system or get another service? I think we’ve been overlooking a lot of the complexity that’s building up in the ecosystems we have around these products, but this complexity is also the thing that makes them so hard to repair even if you had the right.

We have a lot to think about!

Please listen to the longer podcast where we talk about these issues and join us at the2030.Cloud.

Is Open Source Working?

Is open source driving innovation? And Is it a necessary component of Right to Repair and ownership? Are there commercial drivers where people want those open capabilities?

We transition into a deeper conversation about what’s going on with open source. Is it being innovative? Who is leading? How is it working?

Transcript: otter.ai/u/vto0yPpBuZtqngkc_zqMDp9J39M
Photo by Jeffrey Czum from Pexels [ID 4118958]

Announcing the Cloud 2030 Online Community/Event

Rob Hirschfeld and Stephen Spector announce the launch of a new community/event called Cloud 2030. This concept is based on the past Cloud 2020 event held at Switch in 2010 focused on the future of cloud.

In addition to being a global community of cloud operators this will operate as en event without a fixed schedule. Come join at cloud2030.mn.co to learn more.

Chris Love and Jay Vyas on their NEW Book, Core Kubernetes

Joining us for this week’s podcast is Jay Vyas, Member of Technical Staff at VMware and Chris Love, Principle Engineer with LionKube.

DISCOUNT CODE: podL8istSh9y20 for 40% discount (good for all our products in all formats)

Jay and Chris have just published a new book, Core Kubernetes available at www.manning.com/books/core-kubernetes.

About the book
Core Kubernetes is a reference guide designed to teach operators, SREs, and developers how to improve reliability and performance of Kubernetes-based systems. In it, Kubernetes experts Chris Love and Jay Vyas provide a guided tour through all major aspects of Kubernetes, from managing iptables to setting up dynamically scaled clusters that respond to changes in load. You’ll understand the unique security concerns of container-based applications, discover tips to minimize costly unused capacity, and get pro tips for maximizing performance. This awesome collection of undocumented internals, expert techniques, and practical guidance has invaluable information you won’t find anywhere else.