In this essay we will discuss how to influence the five cultural dimensions of FOSS. Before we can explain what we already are doing, we first need to explain what these five cultural dimensions are.
A cultural dimension is a way to describe the influence that certain said actors and or entities have on the usage or development of Open Source technologies. So lets start with describing those dimensions.
The five dimensions explained
User
The user dimension are both the private and professionals not strictly technical users who use computerized technology. This can be yourself, your parents, neighbors, your children virtually everybody. The other players in these dimension are companies and communities which offer both hardware or software technologies to these users. In this dimension we can find all kind of organizations which either use proprietary or FOSS technologies. Companies like Microsoft, Google, Apple, but also projects like Linux are mayor players in this dimension. But any company which offers services to private persons are part of this dimension.
Entrepreneurial
This dimension is mainly about decision makers in companies, who decide which technologies are being used, either proprietary of Open Source. So any company, community or foundation have people which make the choice about the technology that they are going to use to support the work they are doing. From your local football club to the manufacturer of fertilizer or the ‘bank’ which integrates Iban with crypto, they all have decisions makers.
Developers
This dimension is about people who make applications, websites and operating systems. But also people who design the hardware we use from day to day. Part of this dimension are of course also the companies and communities who ‘give’ the technologies the developers use. Both proprietary and open source companies and communities can be found.
Support
The support dimension needs some extra explanation. This dimension is not about support to users, but about supportive functions. Graphical designers, Accountants, Marketeers, Photographers, Text writers, Translators all kind of functions which are supportive to businesses. In this dimension, you can find both proprietary and open source companies and communities.
Politicians
A very important dimension, not only because politicians have to use software or hardware too, but because this dimension influences our daily lives and controls large parts of your personal data. This is a domain where not only the politicians are active, but also companies and an army of Big Tech lobbyists.
The current imbalance
In this chapter we are going to discuss the imbalance and try to explain the cause of it. Next to everything we discuss on all this dimensions, do not forget, we cannot see what proprietary software does with our data, we simply do not know, there are indications though you do not only pay with your money for proprietary software, but also with your data.
The user imbalance
Back in the seventies of the last century everything was open, both hardware and software, although the term was not used. If you bought a new refrigerator in the seventies, it not only came with a manual, but also with schematics of the electronic parts and a parts list. As you probably realize this has changed and is still changing. Big Tech tries to change buying into leasing, where you buy a product which you don’t totally own. Like buying a car and having to buy a service for warming your seats on a cold winter day. As lambs getting ready for the slaughter users are manipulated by Big Tech to be harvested for their needs, for their greed. The computers we use, either PC’s, Smartphones, Tablets, TV’s, Smartwatches and Tablets, the operating systems and user software is dominated by proprietary Big Tech technologies. Where companies like Google and Meta try to push a kind of Single Sign on, where you use their login for the use of many other functions. Microsoft and Apple dominate the market of the operating systems. While Android initially was fully open source, one can discuss if this is still the case with all the bloatware. In it’s purest form Android is still open source, but who uses core Android? The lives of the users are dominated by Big Tech, for whom users are not a client that they want to service, but a commodity to harvest.
The Entrepreneurial imbalance
Most Entrepreneurial decision makers live in a fantasy world, where the stories are written by Big Tech and where FOSS is the villain. Open Source is not mature enough, not secure enough. Often because of technological incompetence the CEO’s and CFO’s cannot make a sane decisions and listen to what Big Tech instructs them to do. Lured into vendor lock-ins, ‘leaders’ of companies are recruited in to the armies of Big Tech. Lots of decision makers are confident that Big Tech is the only way forward, while this of course is not true. Open Source is mature and arguably more secure than proprietary technologies.
The Development imbalance
With special programs and financial support, Big Tech dominates Skill, Professional and Research University programs. The education of the next generation of software-developers is full of proprietary technologies, where students have to use Office 365, because in other cases, the professors can not assess their work. Students developing software on Windows machines, with proprietary IDE’s . Where sometimes professors will explain students they cannot use Linux because: It’s not not allowed on the network, or there is no support for Linux. If you know that 96.8% of all servers run on Linux and that only 0.6% of higher IT programs consist of real open source technologies, you can feel the imbalance.
The Support imbalance
When looking at the supportive function the shock can not be greater. The dominance of proprietary software in this dimension is insane. In the world of graphical design the usage of proprietary programs seems mandatory. From design to press everything is dominated by one company. Printing companies expect that all files to print are delivered in Adobe formats. Companies like SAP and others dominate the ERP market. Professional users expect proprietary software and are shocked when it is something else. While of course there are decent professional open source solutions.
The imbalance of the Political dimension
With an astonishing number of 70000 lobbyists in the EU, the proprietary industry is doing it’s best to influence politics. In contrast Open Source technologies have 1 lobbyist in Brussels. Looking at this figure only one might conclude the war is already lost. The importance of this dimension is huge, it’s about our personal data, our taxes, our identity. You can not give control of this data to proprietary companies. But still this happened. While processes for new technologies at governments might seem straightforward and honest, there still is the possibility to write towards the wanted technology. Since long the European Union officially has the rule Open Source unless and Public Money Public Code, how then is it possible that the majority of governments are still working with technologies like Office 365, Teams, Sharepoint and Zoom. Slowly some movement is visible, especially in Germany where the state of Schleswich Holstein decided to switch to Nextcloud.
The Way Forward
It seems there’s a lot to do if we want to better the world. If we want to implement the four freedoms of software. If we want control of our own data and sovereignty for Europe.
As a user
The users are a very difficult dimension to influence, as technology is often not their hobby. They don’t want to invest time to learn something new. In all honesty with the probably high number of digital illiteracy people, how can you expect then that when someone finally knows how to check his mail or write a letter to change to something new, because it’s open source? They don’t know what is open source and what is proprietary. To influence this dimension we need a controllable balance, meaning a stack in which the hardware and software a both open, like what UBports is trying to achieve with Ubuntu Touch. Affordable, easy to use, available as a commodity are essential to gain traction. If you buy a new phone and a FOSS device is simply not offered, there's not going to be any change. When buying a new computer means you have to choose between Windows, MacOSX or Google doesn’t help the cause. Why is Linux not mainstream available, when it’s safer, more stable and faster. Changing this dimension is of vital importance, because users become entrepreneurs, developers, designers, accountants and politicians. But before they become a professional they have a huge journey to make. From the cradle, to school, to their professional life. If we want to influence this dimension we need to influence the future generation. A fantastic way forward would be to start to learn children at school to work with open source technologies, while this sounds interesting we cannot do that without the support of their teachers, so in our opinion the way forward would be to start teaching the future generation of teachers. Show them that open source is a viable option. Luckily there are initiatives in this direction, which we can support. But also we need to continue to develop open source solutions for users and explain to them why it’s important that the technology is open source. We need to find a way to make the philosophy a part of the argument for the users, not only functionality and price. Luckily the Orange Baboon is helping open source forward, by changing the world order, which led to the move to Signal day, which is today, march first 2025.
As a Entrepreneurial decision maker
The typical entrepreneurial decision maker is not really interested in technology and especially wants the ability to blame somebody when shit hits the fan. Proprietary companies offer them service in contracts with which they buy innocence. So it’s not about the functionality but mainly about who’s to blame when it doesn’t work. People are just people who want to cement their own position. To change this open source needs to come with comparable solutions, they need to offer service to decision makers, to buy their innocence. If it all was about functionality the world already would have changed. Simply looking at Linux it’s arguably much better than any other operating system. If it was all about functionality Linux would have been the most used operating system on the desktop, because this is not the case, there have to be other reasons. Because of the disinterest decision makers are not aware that there are open source solutions that also offer the security and service they are looking for.
Through their lifelong experience decision makers are familiar with proprietary technologies which they trust. To influence this dimension we need to change the attitude of the future generation of managers. This can be achieved by education. For this we have helped designing a MBA program in which future managers learn about the possibilities of open source technologies, but also about the philosophy. With this program we hope that managers who will follow this program are more susceptible to implement FOSS technologies in the companies that they lead. Although it’s not part of our core business we can support with courses we already created for our developers.
As a Developer
The development dimension plays a vital role in this equation, because for all open source technologies we want to build, we need developers. But in a world where the majority of educated developers, have no knowledge of open source technologies there is no future, no light at the end of the tunnel. That’s the main reason OpenSource Science B.V. was founded in December 2022 to influence this dimension in a positive way. We have created a four year curriculum where students not only learn to work with open source technologies, but also are well trained in open source philosophy and community work. We offer this program as a bachelor of computer science through some University partners, which give international accredited degrees at the end of the journey. We also design tailor made programs, where Universities which are open to change and implement open source in their education can make a step to a better future, but also show the world change is possible.
Next in February 2025 we have started with the design of an open source Crowd Bounty solution, to create a platform where independent open source developers can earn some money and communities can offer bounties for desperately wanted functionality for their open source projects.
As a Supportive function
Maybe one of the most difficult dimension are the supportive functions. When it’s your work and not your hobby, you want to use the software which you are used to, and with which you are competent. Learning new technologies because of a philosophy you don’t support is a difficult journey. Although that ANY supportive program can be substituted with good open source solutions, this doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. This dimension is heavily influence by the User and Entrepreneurial dimension. When new generations of students start asking questions at their schools why they have to use proprietary software the educational system has to adapt.
As a Politician
Politics, Politics, Politics, is a difficult world, which we can influence by voting. Study party programs and find out which parties support open source technologies and vote them in. But also hold politicians accountable, ask them why they choose for proprietary solutions where your data is stored on the other side of the big pond. Why they choose for closed algorithms that process your data without knowledge of what they are doing with the data.
Next politicians are also users which often have no knowledge about whats happening in the world of technology. I am guessing most of them have no clue that source code and compiled code are different things. Guessing most of them has never seen an IDE, nor source code in progress. Guessing that most of them do not know what the essential differences are between open source and proprietary.
Politicians are also merely human beings who can be educated. We can explain them the importance and show them, how the world should be governed.