Stefano Marinelli on Nostr: Yesterday’s event was engaging and sparked a lot of reflections. Here are my ...
Yesterday’s event was engaging and sparked a lot of reflections. Here are my immediate, unordered thoughts:
• The organizers poured their passion into this conference - they created something genuinely interesting and enjoyable. Thank you for that.
• Every talk offered valuable insights. A recurring theme was developers’ anxiety about large language models: they rely on them heavily and fear losing competitiveness without these tools. I personally resonated more with some speakers than others, especially appreciating the friendly, down‑to‑earth atmosphere that some of them tried to create - we should feel like peers, not influencers on a pedestal.
• I was the oldest (and most traditionally dressed) speaker - some even addressed me formally, which made me feel ancient! Yet I was arguably the most “alternative”, challenging the crowd not just on BSDs but on open source philosophy itself. Instead of blindly rewriting projects in Rust, I urged people to do so only when it truly adds value. I felt like a real hipster 😆
• Many equate open source with large, corporate‑backed projects you can consume or contribute to. This narrow view risks creating mainstream currents dominated by a few profit‑driven companies, ultimately limiting choice and freedom.
• Despite time constraints (the ticking timer was painfully visible, I was a bit nervous while presenting!), I achieved my goal: to broaden minds and open eyes to the BSDs and the deeper spirit of open source. Several attendees - including fellow speaker Sal, whom I already admired - came to chat afterward, sparking wonderful discussions.
• Sometimes I observed a dismissive attitude toward anything outside the mainstream (“Ok, Boomer…”), reflecting a worrying trend. For many, open source is merely a paycheck, which saddens me.
• A few were genuinely curious about the BSDs but unsure how to apply it professionally. Almost everyone I spoke with uses Docker/Kubernetes but dislikes its complexity. I encouraged them to drive change from the ground up by learning different workflows and bringing that value into their work - not just replicating existing OS practices.
• One of the sponsors, Aruba Cloud, gifted me some swag - including a pair of blue socks emblazoned with a cloud logo. I can now literally say I’m walking on clouds (or that the cloud is at my feet)! 😄
#OSDay #OSDay25 #OSDay2025 #Conference #OpenSource
Published at
2025-03-22 08:52:11Event JSON
{
"id": "ab6ea417c926e64285e6845ae76543567720c7ad69d8cc6cbfd4f95f0fc84f2f",
"pubkey": "ae3bf73746446a5edd319cef72033b539598a21ad07c2c2c4a84fbeaf22b835a",
"created_at": 1742633531,
"kind": 1,
"tags": [
[
"t",
"osday"
],
[
"t",
"osday25"
],
[
"t",
"osday2025"
],
[
"t",
"conference"
],
[
"t",
"opensource"
],
[
"proxy",
"https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/users/stefano/statuses/114205231104584321",
"activitypub"
]
],
"content": "Yesterday’s event was engaging and sparked a lot of reflections. Here are my immediate, unordered thoughts:\n\n• The organizers poured their passion into this conference - they created something genuinely interesting and enjoyable. Thank you for that.\n\n• Every talk offered valuable insights. A recurring theme was developers’ anxiety about large language models: they rely on them heavily and fear losing competitiveness without these tools. I personally resonated more with some speakers than others, especially appreciating the friendly, down‑to‑earth atmosphere that some of them tried to create - we should feel like peers, not influencers on a pedestal.\n\n• I was the oldest (and most traditionally dressed) speaker - some even addressed me formally, which made me feel ancient! Yet I was arguably the most “alternative”, challenging the crowd not just on BSDs but on open source philosophy itself. Instead of blindly rewriting projects in Rust, I urged people to do so only when it truly adds value. I felt like a real hipster 😆 \n\n• Many equate open source with large, corporate‑backed projects you can consume or contribute to. This narrow view risks creating mainstream currents dominated by a few profit‑driven companies, ultimately limiting choice and freedom.\n\n• Despite time constraints (the ticking timer was painfully visible, I was a bit nervous while presenting!), I achieved my goal: to broaden minds and open eyes to the BSDs and the deeper spirit of open source. Several attendees - including fellow speaker Sal, whom I already admired - came to chat afterward, sparking wonderful discussions.\n\n• Sometimes I observed a dismissive attitude toward anything outside the mainstream (“Ok, Boomer…”), reflecting a worrying trend. For many, open source is merely a paycheck, which saddens me.\n\n• A few were genuinely curious about the BSDs but unsure how to apply it professionally. Almost everyone I spoke with uses Docker/Kubernetes but dislikes its complexity. I encouraged them to drive change from the ground up by learning different workflows and bringing that value into their work - not just replicating existing OS practices.\n\n• One of the sponsors, Aruba Cloud, gifted me some swag - including a pair of blue socks emblazoned with a cloud logo. I can now literally say I’m walking on clouds (or that the cloud is at my feet)! 😄\n\n#OSDay #OSDay25 #OSDay2025 #Conference #OpenSource",
"sig": "014f3701515a7ff344cf2476c2b0a40bdd86a80b4c5911e1d35c4d48254fe42838d46c6d8774c07158aa9d25688ab37570aaccf496f7e59a43887d1f1fc9dc56"
}