Members Newsletter – August 2025
Dear Open Source Initiative supporters,
As the days stretch long and the lure of beaches and barbecues calls, I’ve got a summer-themed hot take for our community:
Our collective obsession with “perpetual bug fixing” and “ever-expanding features” is the digital equivalent of trying to pack five different beach activities into a single, sweltering afternoon. It’s unsustainable, exhausting, and often leads to burnout – not just for maintainers, but for the projects themselves.
This summer, let’s challenge ourselves to embrace a radical concept: strategic project stasis for the sake of long-term health. Imagine a summer vacation for your codebase. Not abandonment, but a deliberate period of low maintenance and a reduction in scope, rather than a constant push for “more.”
Are we so afraid of a project being “finished enough” that we sacrifice its stability and our own well-being on the altar of endless iterations? This summer, let’s advocate for the beauty of a well-maintained, stable codebase, even if it means fewer shiny new features for a while. Sometimes, the most refreshing thing we can do for Open Source is to let it simply be, and perhaps even enjoy the quiet hum of a project that just… works.
Wishing you a truly restful and recharging summer!
Stefano Maffulli
Executive Director, OSI
I hold weekly office hours on Fridays with OSI members: book time if you want to chat about OSI’s activities, if you want to volunteer or have suggestions.
News from the OSI
White House releases AI Action Plan, includes Open Source
The OSI explains the areas of the “AI Action Plan” that may impact the Open Source community, in particular a specific section titled: “Encourage Open Source and Open Weight-AI,” and highlights recommendations to watch as the administration moves forward with implementation.
Case study: enhancing SBOMs with cdsbom at the Linux Foundation
A Linux Foundation case study on using cdsbom to enhance SPDX SBOMs with license data from ClearlyDefined for better compliance and transparency.
OSI in the news
Open Source Is Too Important To Dilute
Article from The New Stack
The Open Source Initiative (OSI), a nonprofit that sets the foundation for the open source software ecosystem, did the hard work to define open source decades ago. It identified 10 criteria that include free redistribution, integrity of the author’s source code and no discrimination against persons and groups, among others. These criteria are the guarantees that allow companies to use OSS without calling their legal department every time a developer installs a package.
Other highlights
Open Source Initiative Joins the Re:Create Coalition (Re:create coalition)
OpenAI’s New Models Aren’t Really Open: What to Know About Open-Weights AI (CNET)
Open Source AI May Reduce Energy Demands (Carnegie Mellon University)
Read all press mentions from this past month
Other news
News from OSI affiliates and partners
OpenForum Europe: OFE Publishes Landmark Study Calling on Funding Europe’s Open Digital Infrastructure through an EU Sovereign Tech Fund (EU-STF)
Linux Foundation: Charting a path forward for global collaboration in open source AI: Key takeaways from the GOSIM open source AI strategy forum
CNCF: A mid-year 2025 look at CNCF, Linux Foundation, and the top 30 open source projects
OpenSSF: Celebrating Five Years of OpenSSF: A Journey Through Open Source Security
Python Software Foundation: Unmasking Phantom Dependencies with Software Bill-of-Materials as Ecosystem Neutral Metadata
Drupal Association: Funding Open Source like public infrastructure
Joomla: Celebrate 20 Years of Joomla!
Open Future: A Step Forward, But Not Far Enough: the EU’s AI Transparency Template
Wikimedia Foundation: Wikimedia Foundation Challenges UK Online Safety Act Regulations
W3C: Vision for W3C: a manifesto for our operations and decision making
Survey
DPGA Global Open Source Policies & Practices Survey
The OSI and the DPGA, in coordination with 24 partners, has launched the Global Open-Source Policies & Practices Survey to map the current use of open-source-first approaches across governments and public-interest institutions.
Events
Upcoming events
Open Source Summit Europe (August 25-27 – Amsterdam)
Community over Code NA (September 11-14 – Minneapolis)
Deep Dive: Data Governance (October 1-3 – Online)
All Things Open (October 12-14 – Raleigh)
Code & Compliance (October 22-23 – Brussels)
OpenForum Academy Symposium (November 18-19 – Rio de Janeiro)
Thanks to our sponsors
New sponsors and renewals
Bloomberg
Microsoft
See all sponsors
Interested in sponsoring, or partnering with, the OSI? Please see our Sponsorship Prospectus and our Annual Report. Please contact the OSI to find out more about how your company can promote open source development, communities and software.
Support OSI by becoming a full member
Let’s build a world where knowledge is freely shared, ideas are nurtured, and innovation knows no bounds! Join as a full member!
Source: opensource.org