Software is an essential resource of our society and is present in not only all industrial processes, but also in the acquisition, sharing and preservation of knowledge, representing our entire digital heritage. Not to forget, software is also required in order for nearly any electronic device to actually be made use of. As a tool for intergenerational equity, to save us from the loss of knowledge or to avoid a potential shutdown of our digital foundations, it is time to understand software as one of the central resources of our current social systems and to think about sustainable ways to consume and preserve software for generations to come. The talk will reflect specific characteristics of digital resources and the sustainability of software in particular.

1. Mastodon: @3rik@mastodon.social
Twitter: @3albers@twitter.com
Blog: blog.3rik.cc
Erik Albers
About the sustainability of software

2. Software as a resource of our society

3. Unlimited resource

4. But in practice often limited

5. A resource that can be designed

6. A resource in dependencies

7. The more users, the more resource
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Resources can be designed
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Resources depend on each other

8. „Sustainability is a development that meets the
needs of the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their own
needs.“
„Our common future“,
Brundtland-report, 1987

9. “Everything not saved will be lost”
- Nintendo Quit Screen message

10. Loss of software heritage

11. “Our ambition is to collect, preserve, and share
ALL software that is publicly available in source
code form.”

12. Loss of software heritage

13. Users
Companies
InitiativesScience
Third-parties
Developers
Communities create resilient ecosystems

14. Users
Knowledge exchange
Social exchangeFree licensing
Common goal
Developers
Community governance

16. May the fork be with you

19. +
Copyleft for sustainability

20. Free licences are fundamental for software sustainability
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Community governance helps sustaining software
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Forking needs Copyleft for sustainabilty