We started FLOSS/fund in 2024 to give up to $1 million annually to support the development of FOSS (free and open-source) projects globally.

Here’s what K said in a post reflecting on the past year, making the case for the Indian government also to fund FOSS for strategic tech sovereignty:

“Actually, no amount of material resources can enable governments to develop, nurture, and sustain complex, high-quality FOSS projects themselves in the way a community of passionate maintainers can. The incentives, DNA, and motivations simply do not align. Realistically, the idea of tech sovereignty cannot be rooted in ‘owning’ and creating all technology, especially software, from scratch. There is no way but to participate in the collaborative global FOSS ecosystem.”

Without open source software, it’s impossible for us to realize our digital and economic ambitions. It’s in the best interests of both the Indian government and Indian companies to support open source projects that they use and derive benefit from. I can imagine a “sovereign FOSS fund” to support open source projects that are crucial to the country’s interests. The same goes for Indian companies with the financial ability to do so. Barring everything else, supporting FOSS is a logical business choice.

I’ve said this numerous times: without open source software, there would be no Zerodha.

Link to the post.

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