Where Will Open Source Take Us Next?

The dawning of another year brings with it many uncertainties as well as hopes. For open source software development, though many challenges have been met, the future still looks full of potential and possibilities for even greater developments. It’s amazing to think of how far FOSS has come and how much of an impact it has already had, but what’s even more amazing is how it still has so much more to offer us in the future.

The Impact of Open Source

Open source came at a most opportune time, when people needed faster, more flexible custom solutions. Open source’s fluid, constantly-evolving nature fit our needs perfectly, effortlessly taking over and infiltrating even our most relied upon proprietary software. It’s given us greater efficiency and innovation, faster development processes and more success with troubleshooting whenever problems arose. It has evened the playing field and opened doors especially for those that were previously hindered by limited resources.

Hopes for the Future

With its impressive track record thus far and ability to evolve alongside our fast-changing needs, there’s no doubt that open source will continue to innovate and expand its reach. Among the areas where open source is certainly, if not hopefully expanding its reach are in AI and machine learning, and Internet of Things. These fields have experienced constant development throughout the years but have yet to experience a significant “boom”, one that will most likely be driven at least in part by open source software.

Another area where open source may prove to be substantial is in increasing our data privacy and security, and providing more transparency of how data is handled. More and more people are realizing the dangers that technology can be susceptible to and are demanding more transparency for how and what happens when these dangers occur. Open source can certainly help increase that much needed transparency.

Open source’s continued growth is to be expected. It will continue to infiltrate areas once dominated by proprietary software, and with Microsoft’s acquisition of Github, more companies are likely to follow suite and invest in open source resources.

As open source expands, a cycle will begin to emerge: open source solutions become more robust, this develops more trust among users, thus attracting more use and adoption. Eventually, open source may become the de facto standard for most, even among enterprise businesses.

What are your thoughts on the future of open source? Where do you think open source is most likely headed, or where do you think it should be headed? Sound off in the comments section below.