Open source projects rely on contributors to avoid the tragedy of the commons, a scenario where a shared resource is depleted due to individual self-interest and lack of collective action. fairkom is active in various open source communities and an active contributor of code, translations or documentation. So why is that important?
An open source project itself is a shared resource - a public good that is non-excludable (anyone can use it) but requires maintenance to remain viable. Unlike traditional commons (e.g., pastures), the risk isn't overuse but under-provision of effort: if everyone free-rides (uses the project without contributing), the project stagnates or collapses ( free-rider dilemma).
Successful projects foster communities where contributors feel welcomed and invest in the project’s success. Here are some tools that help to maintain communities:
- apply open source licenses (e.g., GPL or AGPL, EUPL or CC-by-sa - fairkom had contributed to the latter two)
- offer and maintain code sharing platforms (fairkom's public gitlab instance hosts more than 1200 projects)
- offer community events (fairkom sponsors the LinuxDay or organizes install parties in cooperation with LUGV)
- offer low barrier platforms to test and use open source tools (fairkom hosts several on fairapps.net)
And yes, open source software is also creating business relations. The global value of OSS has been estimated at $8.8 Trillion - however a lot of the revenues is made by free-riders. It is an unacceptable mindset, if small or large hosting or consulting companies do not give back, but just install, host and put the money of their customers into their pockets. The Open Source Business Alliance has worked out criteria for public procurement that ensure, that the bidders are ranked by offering a professional service and is supporting core development or other useful contributions. We need public organisations as stewards, that ensure the "commons" remains a thriving resource.
At fairkom we use several open source softwares and we are part of the free sofware ecosystem. Here we list some projects, that we or our members maintain, support or have contributed to:
- BigBlueButton 3.0 testing, API specs, i18n, community work
- BigBlueButton fairblue extension for live translations (available for BBB 2.5 and total rewrite for BBB 3.0)
- SchulChatRLP - FluffyChat based matrix messenger adapted for education
- Matrix Foundation silver sponsor
- Jitsi MR for moderation
- nextcloud app OpenSearch published
- nextcloud app fairmeeting WIP (can be used for any Jitsi server)
- fairregister.net has been fully open sourced
- WS-FED Proxy
- RocketChat PushGateway, gridfsmigrator, oAuth group support and various bug fixes
- PostgresOperator node drain handling
Open source projects escape the tragedy of the commons when contributors collectively sustain them. Their efforts transform a shared resource from a vulnerable public good into a resilient, community-driven ecosystem. Without contributors, projects risk obsolescence; with them, they evolve and endure. That's why we are encouraging our customers, not only to pay for hosting and customizations, but to subscribe a Service Level Agreement, either with us or with the software vendor, or to sponsor a relevant foundation or buy subscriptions if applicable. Budget which fairkom gets that way is all being used for open source or commons projects, as of our statutes. That's how we try to contribute to the prosperity of the free software movement - not meant as free beer but providing the four freedoms of being able to use, inspect, modify and redistribute software without vendor-lock in. As integrators, we plan to extend partnerships with core developers as part of a sustainable business ecosystem.
Images created with imagen AI, inspired by co-working situations in hubs or the alps, where using land as a common good is part of the alpine culture (Allmende).
