Open Matters Podcast

Open source won the server. It won the phone in your pocket. But it still hasn’t won the workplace: the documents, the spreadsheets, the slides. Gerald Pfeifer has spent decades on the infrastructure side of that story. He has contributed to the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) for 29 years and has sat on its steering committee since 1999. Most recently he was CTO at SUSE and chair of the openSUSE Board. This summer he left to go after the desk, creating Open Productivity. It’s a new joint venture of six of the companies behind openDesk, offering a secure, sovereign, open-source alternative to Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace. We discuss: – Why Linux and Kubernetes won by being better, not just by being open – Why there’s no such thing as “the open source community”, and what there is instead – How companies can engage with open-source projects without burning up on re-entry – Why Gerald brought in Collabora rather than building in-house at SUSE – How the shift to the browser changes the game for the desktop – Resilience, vendor lock-in, and the only kind of lock-in Gerald likes – Why he rates Collabora Online’s presentation editor well ahead of Microsoft 365 and Google Slides Recorded shortly before Open Productivity’s launch. The website is now live: https://open-productivity.eu/en/home/

For Amnesty International Spain, digital sovereignty isn’t simply about procurement, compliance or where your servers happen to be. It’s about being able to keep working — whatever happens. In this episode of Open Matters, Richard Brock speaks with Carlos Lopez Belenguer, IT Manager for Infrastructure at Amnesty International Spain, about why the organisation has spent more than a decade pursuing technological independence. Carlos explains how Amnesty International Spain combines self-hosted infrastructure, open-source software and online services to support staff and thousands of activists — and why retaining control of its data and tools matters so much to an organisation that regularly challenges governments, companies and other powerful institutions. We discuss what digital sovereignty actually means in practice; why open formats, portability and an exit plan matter; Amnesty International Spain’s long history with Collabora Online; and why organisations should still pay for professional support even when the software itself is open source. Carlos also shares what happened when one open-source supplier increased its price fivefold — and why being able to keep running the software gave Amnesty time to find an alternative. 🔔 Subscribe for more discussions on open-source tech! iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/open-matters-podcast/id1807042369 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4frqRzV9DsAC0HfJ3ewaeD RSS: https://www.collaboraonline.com/feed/mp3/ The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of Collabora Productivity or its affiliates. The content is provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered official guidance or fact-checked technical documentation. 00:00 Why digital independence matters 01:03 Inside Amnesty International Spain’s IT 04:44 Why self-hosting matters 05:35 When powerful people want you quiet 07:14 Open source as a route to independence 09:08 Eight years with Collabora Online 13:57 What digital sovereignty really means 16:04 Why pay for open-source software? 19:06 When the price jumps 5× 22:08 The price of cloud convenience 25:12 How to take back control

What happens when you set off to build a sustainable business around open source software? In this episode of Open Matters, Richard Brock speaks with Lucie Lesage from Jeci, the French company behind the open-source document management platform Pristy. Lucie explains how Jeci grew from one developer providing Alfresco services into a team building its own open-source product. We discuss finding the first customers, selling software before every feature was finished, setting prices, earning trust, and learning to let other developers contribute to something that began as one person’s code. We also explore why Jeci chose Collabora Online for document editing, how open source gives customers confidence that their software can continue even if a supplier disappears, and why “free software” does not mean software that costs nothing. Topics include: • Growing from services into a product company • Winning and supporting the first customers • Pricing open-source software • Building Pristy on top of Alfresco • Why Jeci chose Collabora Online • Free as in freedom—not free of cost • Open-source and French-first business principles • Pristy Marchés and future product plans 🔔 Subscribe for more discussions on open-source tech! iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/open-matters-podcast/id1807042369 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4frqRzV9DsAC0HfJ3ewaeD RSS: https://www.collaboraonline.com/feed/mp3/ The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of Collabora Productivity or its affiliates. The content is provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered official guidance or fact-checked technical documentation. 00:00 Intro 01:01 How did you first get into OSS? 01:53 How did that shape how you think about software today? 02:28 What is Jeci? 03:03 This wasn’t the original direction? 04:14 Are you a product or services company? 04:57 What was difficult about the early days? 05:28 What drove the change? 06:03 What was COVID like? 07:28 Is that when you discovered Collabora Online? 08:19 Did you consider alternatives? 09:12 Transitioning from a single developer to a team 10:09 How did you pitch the new idea? 12:11 Pricing difficulties 13:30 How to find customers? 15:35 How are things growing now?! 17:05 Free vs. freedom 20:16 Changes to Alfresco and Nuxeo 21:46 Lucie’s experience leading marketing 26:26 Is everything on-premise at Jeci? 27:23 Future plans!

Open source doesn’t grow through code alone — it also grows through communities. And communities are built when people meet, share ideas, and sometimes argue over coffee in conference hallways. In this episode of Open Matters, Richard Brock speaks with Eirini Athanasopoulou from Nextcloud about the human side of open source: events, community, storytelling, and what it takes to bring distributed people together in real life. Eirini shares her journey from literature and TEDx in Greece to organising international events at Nextcloud, including Enterprise Days, the Nextcloud Summit, and the Community Conference. We talk about why in-person events still matter, how open-source events differ from generic tech conferences, and why event management is “project management with a little bit of fun and magic.” And yes — there is also a pizza disaster story. 🔔 Subscribe for more discussions on open-source tech! iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/open-matters-podcast/id1807042369 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4frqRzV9DsAC0HfJ3ewaeD RSS: https://www.collaboraonline.com/feed/mp3/ The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of Collabora Productivity or its affiliates. The content is provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered official guidance or fact-checked technical documentation. 00:00 Intro 03:48 From Greece to Berlin 04:39 From volunteering to work 06:18 What are the different Nextcloud events? 09:02 What about hybrid/online events? 10:25 What are the numbers? 13:40 Why should we come? 15:27 Any amusing stories? 16:58 What keeps you awake before an event? 19:17 What does Richard enjoy about events? 21:28 How do you measure success?

Germany isn’t just talking about digital sovereignty — it’s building it. 🇩🇪 80,000+ users pilot scheme 🧩 8 vendors, one platform 🚀 Federal rollout coming in 2027 Inside ZenDiS and openDesk — and what it really takes to assemble a sovereign digital workplace with open source. In this episode, Richard Brock is joined by Victor Moster (ZenDiS) and Thorsten Behrens (Collabora Productivity). 🔔 Subscribe for more discussions on open-source tech! iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/open-matters-podcast/id1807042369 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4frqRzV9DsAC0HfJ3ewaeD RSS: https://www.collaboraonline.com/feed/mp3/ The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of Collabora Productivity or its affiliates. The content is provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered official guidance or fact-checked technical documentation.

In this episode of Open Matters, Richard Brock speaks with Johan Bernhardsson from Redpill Linpro, one of the Nordic region’s leading open-source consultancies. Johan shares what real-world migrations look like: from replacing aging NAS drives with Nextcloud to building GDPR-sensitive collaboration platforms, and helping organizations move at their own pace. We discuss: -Why “cloud-first” often means “no real choice” -How open-source migrations actually begin -Why user experience matters more than features -The growing demand for on-prem and sovereign deployments -And why digital change is still slow — but accelerating If digital sovereignty is more than a slogan, this is what it looks like on the ground. 🔔 Subscribe for more discussions on open-source tech! iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/open-matters-podcast/id1807042369 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4frqRzV9DsAC0HfJ3ewaeD RSS: https://www.collaboraonline.com/feed/mp3/ The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of Collabora Productivity or its affiliates. The content is provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered official guidance or fact-checked technical documentation.

In this episode of Open Matters, Richard Brock speaks with Thorsten Behrens, Tor Lillqvist & Jan Holesovsky – the three principal engineers behind the new Collabora Office release, about what it really means to move a complex application from the browser to the desktop. They explain how Collabora Online has been transformed into a native desktop app that runs entirely locally while preserving the same user interface and architecture, and why this approach is fundamentally different from simply wrapping a web app. The conversation explores the technical and conceptual challenges of cross-platform software, the limitations of browser environments, lessons learned from earlier mobile ports, and the importance of reusing a shared core across web, desktop, and mobile. Along the way, the engineers reflect on portability, performance, security, and developer experience, revealing why building truly cross-platform software in many cases is difficult – and how they succeeded. Subscribe for more discussions on open-source tech! iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/open-matters-podcast/id1807042369 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4frqRzV9DsAC0HfJ3ewaeD RSS: https://www.collaboraonline.com/feed/mp3/ The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of Collabora Productivity or its affiliates. The content is provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered official guidance or fact-checked technical documentation.

8.5% of the U.S. population self-hosts at least one internet-facing service — from websites and file storage to smart home tools and password syncing. But what motivates people to do it… and what risks come with it? In this episode of Open Matters, Dr. Lea Gröber (ICSI Berkeley) joins us to unpack the latest research on self-hosting, digital sovereignty, and the real-world security challenges of running services from home. We also ask the uncomfortable question: are we romanticising “sovereignty” while ignoring security risks — and is self-hosting a bad idea for most people? Subscribe for more discussions on open-source tech! iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/open-matters-podcast/id1807042369 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4frqRzV9DsAC0HfJ3ewaeD RSS: https://www.collaboraonline.com/feed/mp3/ The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of Collabora Productivity or its affiliates. The content is provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered official guidance or fact-checked technical documentation.

Denmark tried to legislate open source and Big Tech pushed back hard. Nearly 20 years later, open-source solutions are running citizen services in municipalities across the country and even powering the tax authority in Greenland. In this episode, Magenta CEO Morten Kjærsgaard explains Denmark’s “first wave” and “second wave” of open-source adoption, and how open-source companies across Europe are now working together to build truly sovereign public-sector technology. Subscribe for more discussions on open-source tech! iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/open-matters-podcast/id1807042369 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4frqRzV9DsAC0HfJ3ewaeD RSS: https://www.collaboraonline.com/feed/mp3/ The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of Collabora Productivity or its affiliates. The content is provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered official guidance or fact-checked technical documentation.

Open source is “free”—so why do serious teams pay for it? In this episode, Eloy Crespo breaks down the real value behind paid open-source offerings: support, SLAs, performance, security, compliance, integrations, and long-term sustainability. We cover: “Free as in beer” vs. “free as in freedom”—what businesses actually buy Why support, SLAs, and accountability matter at scale Interoperability, open standards, and avoiding vendor lock-in Real-world examples of starting “free” and moving to paid How open source stays sustainable (and why it needs funding) If you’ve ever asked or been asked “why pay for free software?”, this is your answer. Subscribe for more discussions on open-source tech! iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/open-matters-podcast/id1807042369 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4frqRzV9DsAC0HfJ3ewaeD RSS: https://www.collaboraonline.com/feed/mp3/ The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of Collabora Productivity or its affiliates. The content is provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered official guidance or fact-checked technical documentation.