Stefano Maffulli
GNOME showed another middle finger to its most loyal and long-time users: the middle-click paste is now disabled by default?!?! One of the most powerful features of Unix and X Windows, a thing I miss on every other operating system, is disabled because “other OSs don’t have it”?
The desktop that aims to please new users isn’t gaining new users, but suffers more and more forks, keeps on hitting new lows at every release. Is it masochism? https://discourse.gnome.org/t/please-retain-middle-click-paste/33477/
The evolution of GitLab reminded me of Zuul, built to handle multiple merge requests in parallel “at a rate no human team ever did”.
Machine-scale infrastructure. Agents open merge requests in parallel, trigger pipelines around the clock, and push commits at a rate no human team ever did.
Source: GitLab Act 2
The work I led at the Open Source Initiative is clearly paying off. The G7 Digital Ministers in Paris published the G7 Vision on AI openness opportunities and shared language using the language of the Open Source AI Definition to describe Open Source AI. The document calls for greater clarity in the use of terminology describing AI openness. It’s a short and effective document.
Something I’ve been saying for a few years already. I’m glad to see Creative Commons shifting gears. I’ll update the AI Preference Landscape article in the next few days.
The exploration of these kinds of tools requires us to look beyond copyright alone
Source: From Signals to Infrastructure: Strengthening the Commons for the AI Era – Creative Commons
The call for proposals is open until May 15. The track about Public AI looks interesting.
Public AI
Strategies for building publicly accessible, accountable, and trustworthy large language models (LLMs) and machine learning systems—AI tools that are collectively governed and work for the common good.
Source: DWeb Camp
Worth reading
Notes from inside China’s AI labs – by Nathan Lambert
https://www.interconnects.ai/p/notes-from-inside-chinas-ai-labs
I’ve spent my career at the intersection of Open Source principles and sustainable growth. The tension between the two has hit an all-time high: Open Source software is everywhere, and people who build it face ever-growing challenges. On the demand side of the market, users are tired of their data, their business logic, and their operations being locked in proprietary silos. Businesses of all sizes want stability and security, but above all, they’re asking for sovereignty. In the background is a new world order, with regulations such as the Cyber Resilience Act, AI Act, and GDPR adding requirements on both the demand and supply sides.
That’s why I’ve joined Grist Labs as Chief Revenue Officer.
Why Grist? Why now?Grist is a low-code app builder that prioritizes security, flexibility, and extendibility by design. In recent years, it has been gaining traction among users, whether they’re Open Source enthusiasts or not, competing with large incumbents on quality. And because it is rooted in Open Source, it is also a brilliant tool for those who want to own their data and business logic. Grist is perfect for anyone concerned about their digital sovereignty.
The road aheadWith Grist Labs recently-completed seed funding and a newly solidified leadership team led by Anais Concepcion, we are moving fast. My focus is clear:
- Strategic growth: Partnering with Dipalie Mehta, our new Head of Marketing, to bridge the gap between our incredible product and the global enterprises that need it most.
- Preserving the mission: Scaling our revenue operations while staying fiercely committed to the open source community that makes Grist possible
- European expansion: Bringing “sovereignty-first” solutions to the EU market, where data residency, Cyber Resilience Act, and GDPR are mission-critical mandates for businesses.
If you’re thinking about how to reclaim your digital sovereignty or if you just want to see what a “principled” revenue strategy looks like, let’s talk.
