FOSDEM

Last updated
Free and Open source Software Developers' European Meeting
Logo of FOSDEM (with text).svg
GenreSoftware engineering conference
Venue Campus Solbosch  [ nl ] of the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB)
Location(s) Brussels
Country Belgium
Inaugurated2000 (2000) (as OSDEM), 2001 (2001) (as FOSDEM) [1]
Previous event 3-4 February 2024
Next event 1-2 February 2025
Website fosdem.org OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Free and Open source Software Developers' European Meeting (FOSDEM) is a non-commercial, volunteer-organized European event centered on free and open-source software development. It is aimed at developers and anyone interested in the free and open-source software movement. It aims to enable developers to meet and to promote the awareness and use of free and open-source software.

Contents

FOSDEM is held annually, usually during the first weekend of February, at the Campus Solbosch  [ nl ] of the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) in the southeast of Brussels, Belgium.

Richard (RichiH) Hartmann and Basti Schubert explain the organization of FOSDEM with free software, 02/2023.

History

FOSDEM was started in 2000 [2] under the name Open Source Developers of Europe Meeting (OSDEM) by Raphael Bauduin. Bauduin said that since he felt he lacked the brains to properly contribute to the open-source community, he wanted to contribute by launching a European event in Brussels. Bauduin teamed up with Damien Sandras. [3] The team repeated the event. The F (of FOSDEM) was added at the request of Richard Stallman. [4]

The Free Software Foundation's ceremony for the Award for the Advancement of Free Software was held at FOSDEM from 2002 to 2006 (for the awards for 2001 to 2005). [5] [6]

The event has been held annually in February since then, with growing numbers of visitors, talks and tracks. It is organized thanks to the help of many volunteers.

The conference attracted about 4,000 visitors as of 2011. [7] By 2013 this grew to 5,000 attendees. [8] Since 2017, FOSDEM attendance is estimated at over 8,000 visitors. [9] [10]

FOSDEM 2017 FOSDEM 2017 in Room J.jpg
FOSDEM 2017

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, FOSDEM 2021 and 2022 were held entirely online. [11] [12]

FOSDEM 2023

It was organised again in Brussels with a total of 787 speakers spread over 781 events, and 63 tracks. At the Université Libre de Bruxelles the activities used a total of 35 rooms, and consisted of keynotes, main tracks, developer rooms, lightning talks, stands and Birds Of a Feather (BOF, which is a more free format spread in 3 different rooms). Additionally they organised the FOSDEM Fringe as a set of independent events also related to free and open source. The number of attends was about 8000 for this edition, the two external keynotes speakers of this edition came from the Linux Foundation and NASA open source.

FOSDEM 2024
View from the speaker's desk towards the audience during the opening keynote at FOSDEM 2024 FOSDEM 2024 welcome.jpg
View from the speaker's desk towards the audience during the opening keynote at FOSDEM 2024

As usual, it was in Brussels with 948 speakers spread over 875 events, and 67 tracks using a total of 35 rooms at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. The schedule was similar to 2023: keynotes, main tracks, developer rooms, lightning talks, stands and Birds Of a Feather, together with FOSDEM Fringe [13] , however it was introduced a FOSDEM Junior activity as a set of workshops for children/teenagers from 7 to 17 years old [14] . The keynotes of this edition were about women in technology [15] by Laura Durieux and the achievements of Outreachy.

FOSDEM 2025

As usual, it is in Brussels with 1118 speakers spread over 1074 events, and 78 tracks using a total of 35 rooms at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, showing that there is a sustained grow in the size of the event. The schedule will be similar to 2023 and 2024: keynotes, main tracks, developer rooms, lightning talks, stands and Birds Of a Feather [16] , together with FOSDEM Fringe [17] and FOSDEM Junior [18] The number of keynotes of this edition increased with respect to 2023 and 2024. However, the scheduled talk of Jack Dorsey [19] of has generated controversy [20] [21] within open-source community due to ethical considerations [22] in particular by the involvement of the speaker in bitcoin/cryptocurrency which many open-source developers consider unethical [23] .

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "about FOSDEM".
  2. ↑ "FOSDEM 2018 – About FOSDEM". fosdem.org. Retrieved 2018-01-27.
  3. ↑ "FOSDEM 2007 over". Archived from the original on 2015-02-01. Retrieved 2015-02-01.
  4. ↑ "Fosdem 2002: Fosdem organiser interview" . Retrieved 2011-03-16.
  5. ↑ GNU Project (26 September 2008). "Prior Years' Free Software Award". Free Software Foundation. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
  6. ↑ Sullivan, John. "Award for the Advancement of Free Software". Free Software Foundation. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
  7. ↑ "About FOSDEM". FOSDEM. 2011. Archived from the original on 30 September 2011. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
  8. ↑ "About FOSDEM 2013". archive.fosdem.org. Retrieved 2024-10-10.
  9. ↑ "Home - FOSDEM 2017". archive.fosdem.org. Retrieved 2024-10-10.
  10. ↑ "Home - FOSDEM 2024". archive.fosdem.org. Retrieved 2024-10-10.
  11. ↑ "FOSDEM 2021 Online". fosdem.org. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  12. ↑ "FOSDEM 2022 Online". fosdem.org. Retrieved 2022-09-25.
  13. ↑ "FOSDEM 2024 Fringe: FOSS license and security compliance tools - Open Collective". opencollective.com. 2024-05-05. Retrieved 2025-01-18.
  14. ↑ info@klascement.net, KlasCement (2024-12-16). "Free open source workshops: FOSDEM junior". KlasCement (in Dutch). Retrieved 2025-01-18.
  15. ↑ "Where have the women of tech history gone?". archive.fosdem.org. Retrieved 2025-01-18.
  16. ↑ "NLnet; Let's meet at FOSDEM 2025". nlnet.nl. Retrieved 2025-01-18.
  17. ↑ "FOSDEM 2025 Fringe: FOSS license and security compliance tools workshop". workshop.aboutcode.org. 2025-01-31. Retrieved 2025-01-18.
  18. ↑ "FOSDEM and FOSDEM junior 2025". MIT App Inventor Community. 2024-10-28. Retrieved 2025-01-18.
  19. ↑ "Infusing Open Source Culture into Company DNA: A Conversation with Jack Dorsey and Manik Surtani, Block's head of Open Source". fosdem.org. Retrieved 2025-01-18.
  20. ↑ "Statement on planned protests during the upcoming FOSDEM 2025". fosdem.org. Retrieved 2025-01-18.
  21. ↑ Aufranc (CNXSoft), Jean-Luc (2025-01-17). "Jack Dorsey talk at FOSDEM 2025 may lead to protest - CNX Software". CNX Software - Embedded Systems News. Retrieved 2025-01-18.
  22. ↑ "No billionaires at FOSDEM". drewdevault.com. Retrieved 2025-01-18.
  23. ↑ Diehl, Stephen; Akalin, Jan; Tseng, Darren (June 17, 2022). Popping the Crypto Bubble. Consilience Consulting UK. ISBN   9781915597014.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)

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