Why Open Source Matters

Open source fuels innovation by providing freely accessible code and fostering global collaboration. It empowers developers and companies to iterate faster, building on shared resources that underpin today’s most advanced tools and systems.

Open Source: the foundation of innovation & technology

Open source is the backbone of nearly all modern technology, from the web to AI-powered tools like ChatGPT. Open source software (OSS) enables innovation by providing free access to powerful code and fostering collaboration across global communities. By sharing knowledge and resources, OSS accelerates progress in fields like artificial intelligence, data science, and more. Every major generative AI model—whether for text, images, or audio—depends on open source tools and frameworks. Without open source, the rapid advancements we’ve seen in technology wouldn’t be possible. Embracing open source means contributing to and benefiting from a thriving ecosystem that powers the future of tech.

Most tech innovations of the past two decades have been rooted in open source:

Cloud

ML/AI

DevSecOps

BigData/Data Science

Internet of Things

Blockchain

Mobile

76% of all code is open-source

96% of all code uses open-source

Based on study of ~1700 code-bases across 17 industries

Open Source is everywhere and growing

About 400 million open source projects written in multiple programming languages and systems.

85.7M+

new repositories with 20% year-over-year growth

413M

open source contributions in 2022

3.5B+

total contributions to all projects on GitHub*

90%+

of Fortune 100 companies use GitHub

94M

developers on GitHub

20.5M+

new developers joined GitHub in 2022

Observations from this past year

Infrastructure as code is picking up – It also points to how operations communities are starting to make their presence felt in the world of open source (not just developers).

Trend to other kinds of communities Big Companies are creating more and more company-backed open-source

First-time contributors are more likely to contribute to company-backed open-source.

Most “developers” / contributors are registered on GitHub (owned by Microsoft)

GitHub (along with GitLab and BitBucket) are where almost all of the open-source code is available for raw-use

Code has to be “packaged” to be used (application, website, or library)

How Open Source Works - Governance

Community-driven open source projects are guided by contributors from around the world, allowing anyone with the interest and expertise to participate in shaping the project’s direction. These projects thrive on collaboration and collective decision-making, ensuring a broad range of perspectives and ideas.

Company-backed open source projects are primarily governed by the company that sponsors them. To influence the project’s direction or hold a leadership role—such as being on the steering committee—contributors typically need to be employed by the company. This allows for more centralized decision-making but can limit outside involvement in the project’s long-term vision.