Linux Foundation Europe Newsletter - September 2024

September was an exciting month for the open source community, with the Open Source Summit Europe sparking important conversations about trust, collaboration, and innovation. We’re thrilled to share highlights from the event, including key insights from Gabriele Columbro and a lively discussion with Linus Torvalds. In this edition, you'll find updates from the LF Europe Member Summit, recent progress on projects and news about our new policy working group.

Don’t miss our latest report on open source maturity in Europe and a sneak peek at upcoming events.

Let's dive in!

Table of Contents

• News & announcements
• Updates from Linux Foundation Europe projects
• Top picks for reading/watching
• New publications and surveys from LF Research
• Training & certification deals
• Upcoming events
• Partner with Linux Foundation Europe for your next open source event
• Say “Hi!” to the LF Europe Team 👋
  
  

News & announcements 🗞️

Open Source Summit Europe Recap

Trust is a fundamental ingredient for the success and maturity of open source projects. In his opening keynote, Gabriele Columbro, General Manager of Linux Foundation Europe, explores how fostering trust can enhance collaboration and innovation in the open source community. He also discusses the critical role open source plays in economic development, particularly in technology and sustainability. Catch these valuable insights and more—watch the keynote here.

Highlights

This month, we’re excited to share several highlights from our recent events. One of the standout moments was the keynote featuring Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux and Git, in conversation with Dirk Hohndel, Head of the Open Source Program Office at Verizon.

The LF Europe team had exciting days filled with engaging discussions and insightful panels. One of the standout moments was our panel featuring Cailean Osborne,  Justin Colannino, Sachiko Muto, and Stefano Maffulli, where we delved into "Why Open Source AI Matters for Europe." It was a vibrant conversation about the intersection of the EU AI Act's open source AI exceptions and how our understanding of open source AI is evolving.

The Public Sector track was another highlight, drawing a full house of participants eager to explore the vital role of open source in government and public organizations. The energy in the room was palpable, and it was fantastic to see so many passionate voices contributing to the dialogue.

And let’s not forget about our LF Europe booth! It was a success, and we loved seeing so many of you stop by. We hope you enjoyed the swag and took the opportunity to learn more about our projects. Thank you for being a part of this fantastic event!

Thanks for attending the LF Europe Member Summit!

Thank you for joining us at the LF Europe Member Summit! It was inspiring to witness the thriving European open source community. Throughout the day, we explored critical topics such as the future of open source in Europe, the impact of Switzerland’s new EMBAG law on public sector software, and SAP’s open-source toolbox for cloud infrastructure. Among the highlights was to Daniel Goldscheider’s effective use of the chicken and pig fable during his keynote:

“The chicken talks to the pig: ‘People love ham and eggs. Let us have a partnership.’
Not all partnerships are equal.”

Picture from Philipp Ahmann's Linkedin

We also heard incredible insights from Karel Rietveld of the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration, who emphasized that open source collaboration among public sector stakeholders begins with a single seed of teamwork and can blossom into a forest of innovation. Make sure to review session slides from speakers who provided them via the event schedule.

These discussions reaffirmed the remarkable momentum behind open source across various industries. We’re excited to share that LF Europe has now grown to 173 members! If you’re not yet a member and want to explore the benefits, please reach out.

Join our Public Sector Open Source Working Group

We are launching a new policy working group to foster collaboration on open source governance and advocacy in Europe. This initiative aims to bring together voices from the public sector and OSPOs to strengthen our collective efforts. We invite anyone interested in participating to get in touch.

Opportunities at LF Europe Roadshows

LF Europe Roadshows, held twice a year, are dynamic events designed to enhance collaboration within the European open source ecosystem. Spanning two days, these gatherings feature a mix of presentations and un-conference sessions on critical issues, hosted in different cities across Europe. For more details, check out the sponsorship prospectus on our resources page. Read the sponsorship prospectus on our resources page.

Why Sponsor?
Gain visibility and engage with key players in the open source community. Showcase your commitment to innovation and collaborate with industry leaders. Get in touch for more information

Updates from Linux Foundation Europe projects 🚀

Open Mobile Hub:

The OMH Cloud Storage Module, introduced at the React Universe Conference 2024, provides developers with a unified interface to integrate cloud storage from multiple providers, including Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox, into React Native and Android apps. This module simplifies cross-platform development by ensuring seamless interoperability and stability across both GMS and non-GMS devices.

We’ve built a sample app that showcases the module’s capabilities, demonstrating how your app can manage files and folders without requiring modifications for each storage provider. Explore the sample app to experience the simplicity of the OMH Cloud Storage Module.

This month, the Open Mobile Hub project thrived at the Open Source Summit Europe, engaging in many productive meetings with various partners. We also shared the latest project updates at the Linux Foundation Europe Member Summit. 

OpenWallet Foundation:

The Interoperable Wallets Forum launched at the Global DPI Summit, inviting all 193 UN member states to participate.

Servo:

Our Inspector and Console devtools are now up and running, making it easier for developers to work with them. We’ve also made some great strides in testing, passing 80% of the CSS tables tests. Plus, we’ve added initial support for right-to-left text and bidirectional layout.

Servoshell has been enhanced to support tabbed browsing and OpenHarmony. We’ve switched to a faster self-hosted CI for our Linux builds, which should streamline our processes.

Sylva:

September has been an exciting month for Sylva, with significant progress in both the open-source and telco sectors.

Sylva Mini-Summit at OSS EU: On September 19, 2024, Sylva hosted a highly successful mini-summit at the Open Source Summit Europe in Vienna. The event featured live demos, key insights into GitOps, and a roadmap overview from project leaders. Over 40 attendees explored topics like Workload Cluster Provisioning and Host-Based Routing.

Sylva’s Role in Cloud IPCEI: Sylva continues to play a pivotal role in the Cloud IPCEI’s Telco & Edge Cloud Cluster, driving innovations in containerization (CaaS) alongside major partners like Orange, Deutsche Telekom, and TIM. We are well-positioned to lead the future of European cloud-native telco technologies.

Join the Sylva Community - We're setting the stage for a smarter, more connected world. 🌐

RISE

The RISE Project has had a busy quarter, with numerous events and significant technical work underway. Here are the events where we presented or sponsored in August and September:

• RISC-V Summit China
• RISC-V Day Taipei
• SOSCON India 2024
• Linux Foundation Europe Member Summit

Videos and slides are available for many of these events—please check them out! We have also continued our upstream work across various working groups.

RISE has created a Build Farm for RISC-V developers, hosted on Google Cloud. We have published several technical blog posts on software topics to complement the Software Optimization Guide released earlier this year. Additionally, we recently published RP011, the 11th RFP supporting the RISC-V ecosystem, which will provide Python package support for RISC-V. Bidding is open until October 16.

We look forward to the RISC-V Summit North America in October, where we will present and assist with RISC-V 101, an educational event on Monday morning, October 21. TSC co-chair Nathan Egge will discuss the RISC-V software ecosystem, and Jefro Osier-Mixon will co-present on how to get engaged. We are also bronze sponsors for the event, and we will have a booth and a lounge area to help you relax. Hope to see you there!

Top picks for reading/watching 📚

✨The State of Open Source Generative AI for Developers. Read the guest blog by Paolo Mainardi, CTO AT SparkFabrik and Member of the LF Europe Advisory Board Read more

✨Keynote: Linus Torvalds in Conversation with Dirk Hohndel More Watch the recording from the Open Source Summit Europe Read more

✨Towards European Digital Independence - Building the Euro Stack  On September 24th, we participated alongside other stakeholders in the European Digital Independence event, focusing on Europe's digital sovereignty and the development of the Eurostack as a unifying digital infrastructure. Watch the live streaming.

✨Discover how the EU Cyber Resilience Act could reshape open source development, with a focus on the unique roles of manufacturers versus open source software stewards. Watch the video

Latest Report: Open Source Maturity in Europe

With insights taken from the 2024 World of Open Source survey and augmented by interviews with over a dozen experts working in open source, this report unpacks the current state of open source in Europe and highlights next steps to improve adoption, understanding, and regulation for open source as this technological space continues to mature. Read the report for the full investigation into why open source has hit a watershed moment in Europe. Read the full report for more details.

Training & certification🐧

Linux Foundation Education has just launched Linux Kernel Debugging (LFD445). Designed for current and aspiring kernel developers, device driver developers or anyone interested in shortening the development cycle by taking advantage of existing tools and facilities.

Upcoming events 🗓️

• Cloud Foundry Day Europe in Karlsruhe, Germany 🇩🇪 Oct 9, 2024
• SCION Day in Zurich, Switzerland 🇨🇭Oct 22, 2024
• Cephalocon in Geneva, Switzerland🇨🇭Dec 4–5, 2024
• KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2025 in London, England 🇬🇧 Apr 1–4, 2025 
• KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2026 in Amsterdam, Netherlands 🇳🇱 Mar 23–26, 2026

To register for in-person attendance or virtual LF events, please view our full calendar of events here, and be sure to subscribe to our events newsletter. Check out our Flickr stream for photos of past events!

Partner with Linux Foundation Europe for your next open source event

Planning an open source event in Europe? Let Linux Foundation Europe amplify your event's reach! To our members, we offer promotion on our social channels and newsletters, connecting you with a broad audience of open source enthusiasts. 

Reach out if you'd like a Linux Foundation Europe team member to speak at your local open source event. 

As an independent, trusted supporter, and vendor-neutral hub for open source projects in Europe, we accelerate collaborative efforts, connecting public and private sectors and individual contributors. 

Say “Hi!” to the LF Europe Team 👋

If you’d like to stay updated with what we’re up to at LF Europe, subscribe to our monthly newsletter and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn & Discord.

We are excited to invite you to join the newly launched Bluesky channel of the Linux Foundation Europe for open source initiatives. We aim to create a platform where open source enthusiasts and experts can come together to discuss, collaborate, and work towards advancing the open source movement. Please check this link to follow. 

If you have ideas for new projects, please feel free to contact us at info@linuxfoundation.eu. We would be glad to explore how we can support your efforts. 

Finally, please also consider supporting LF Europe by participating (it’s free for existing Linux Foundation members, not for profit and public sector entities). 

On behalf of the LF Europe team, we look forward to hearing from you!