2. OPEN TECH NYC 2013
This talk
NYC has become a
VIBRANT, SUSTAINABLE
FOSS
W H AT ’ S
ecosystem for technology
DRIVING
NYC
NEXT innovation and Open
MY JOURNEY NYC Source.
DRIVING
FOSS
Understanding the forces
at work will help us make
sure it STAYS THAT WAY.
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3. Me.
• startup junkie. masochist.
• MENTOR @ seedcamp, techpeaks, smartcamp
• deliver stuff that works in startup time
• old timer on the nyc scene.
• love choosing tools, making them better
3
5. E OPE
UR C NS
S O OUR
S E D CE
C L O
MY
quick history
of the
internet
5
6. 2003: Wake up Call
‣ datacenter catastrophe
‣ discovering postgres!
‣ rethinking .net costs
‣ retooling
• Compares 2 open source models
• “Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow”
OPEN TECH NYC 2013
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7. OPEN TECH NYC 2013
complexity and trust
PROJECT LINES OF CODE COMPLEXITY
BACKBONE.JS < 1000 LOW
REDIS 100,000 MEDIUM
MONGODB 500,000 HIGH
POSTGRES > 1,000,000 HIGH!
* STATS FROM OHLOH (http://www.ohloh.net/)
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8. OPEN TECH NYC 2013
Perhaps in the end the open-source culture will triumph not because
cooperation is morally right or software "hoarding"' is morally
wrong ..., but simply because the closed-source world cannot win an
evolutionary arms race with open-source communities that can put
orders of magnitude more skilled time into a problem.
- ERIC S. RAYMOND
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9. WHAT IS an innovation ecosystem?
1. freedom to innovate
2. risk investors
3. infrastructure
4. education
5. talent
6. culture of openness
7. reinvestment
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10. reinvestment
“If NYC can learn anything from Silicon Valley it is the
‣ reinvest wealth
power of plowing the fruits of the harvest back into ‣ reinvest knowledge
the soil”
‣ reinvest network
- Fred Wilson, from his preface to Tech and the City
‣ help others
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11. Community
‣ attentive maintainers
‣ respectful exchanges
‣ everyone contributes
‣ no bystanders
OPEN TECH NYC 2013
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12. foss in nyc
WHAT IS IT ABOUT NEW YORK?
• investors
• culture. you want to live here!
• education
• this guy
• population density
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13. GEOGRAPHY OF OPEN SOURCE
Takhteyev/Hilts, u of toronto 2010
COUNTRY USERS CONTRIBUTORS CONTRIBUTIONS
US 39% 39% 43%
UK 7% 8% 7%
Germany 6% 6% 6%
Canada 4% 4% 4%
Brazil 4% 4% 2%
Japan 4% 4% 5%
France 3% 3% 3%
Australia 3% 3% 3%
Russia 2% 2% 2%
Sweden 2% 2% 2%
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14. GEOGRAPHY OF OPEN SOURCE
Takhteyev/Hilts, u of toronto 2010
CITY USERS CONTRIBUTORS CONTRIBUTIONS
San Fancisco 7% 7% 9%
NYC 4% 4% 4%
London 4% 4% 3%
Tokyo 3% 3% 3%
Boston 2% 2% 3%
Seattle 2% 2% 2%
Chicago 2% 2% 2%
Washington DC 2% 2% 2%
Los Angeles 2% 2% 2%
Paris 2% 2% 2%
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15. SOME* PROMINENT NYC FOSS PROJECTS
SOME* PROMINENT NYC FOSS PROJECTS
VIA NYC HACK AND TELL
• mongodb • pandas
• brubeck • core (ocaml)
• backbone.js • syphon
• clojurescript • cinder
• schematics • giter8
• coffeescript • unfiltered
• nodejitsu packages • twofishes
• statsd • beautiful soup
* THERE ARE MANY, MANY MORE
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16. what is OPEN SOURCE doing for nyc?
‣ enabling companies to start small for little $$
‣ enabling invividuals and teams to become prominent as contributors
‣ attracting talent
‣ changing our engineering culture to one of openness and collaboration
‣ teaching us about centralized vs. decentralized collaboration
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17. centralized vs decentralized models for foss
mysql postgresql
• centralized • decentralized
• always run by a company or bdfl • no bdfl
• now owned by “evil” megacorp • not “owned” by any company or entity
• has resulted in many forks • run by loose consortium of individuals
• future unification uncertain
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18. what is NYC doing for OPEN SOURCE?
‣ leading the charge on municipal open data (nyc open data)
‣ MEDIA, FINANCE, FASHION, LOCATION, mobile
‣ attracting talented leaders
‣ NYC bigapps
‣ cornell tech campus
‣ diversifying the tax base, away from finance
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19. investment and hiring
‣ > 1000 active co’s
‣ hundreds hiring
‣ most foss-based
‣ many contributing to foss
http://nytm.org/made-in-nyc/grid
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20. where have we BEEN? ups and downs.
•1995 - 2000: first wave of internet companies
• 2000: dot-com bubble burst
• 2001: 9/11
• 2008: lehman failure and economic disaster
• 2000 - 2010: second wave, media tech (doubleclick, huffpo, engadget, gizmodo)
• 2007 - 2011: only region in the country to see increase in tech vc
• 2012: superstorm sandy
• now: third wave of successful startups (4sq, meetup, omgpop, etsy, gilt...)
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21. where are we headed?
• the future is extremely bright
• more community around nyc foss projects
• growth of nyc foss founding and contribution
• more large companies supporting these ideas
• more talent and innovation in nyc
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22. WHAT we all must do!
• find a help/mentoring opportunity
• start a project
• join a project
• talk about a project
• blog about something you discovered
• hack in person
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24. OPEN TECH NYC 2013
NYC INNOVATION STACK
MEETUP culture
engineering talent
science, tech, math education
startups using and building foss
established companies building foss
forward-thinking government
active investors at all tiers
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25. happify: a nyc company
• engineering talent in our technologies
• we love nyc, raising families here
• access to media companies
• smart, long investors
• need for happiness!
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26. thank contact me:
andy parsons
you! andy@happify.com
@andyparsons
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