Open source quietly runs the modern world – the servers, phones, and cloud platforms almost everyone depends on. Yet much of it is maintained by small teams or lone volunteers, often unpaid. The gap between how critical this software is and how it is supported is one of technology’s quiet risks.
When a widely used library breaks or is abandoned, the ripple effects can be enormous. Companies that build on open source are beginning to realize that sustaining it is in their own interest.
The health of the digital commons is everyone’s problem, even if it belongs to no one in particular.