Open source won, so why are we still fighting?

How to protect the open source community from new threats.

Open source won the battle, but the war isn’t over. In his acceptance speech for the Open Source Icon Award at All Things Open, Jim Jagielski from Salesforce shares a powerful reminder that complacency is open source’s biggest threat. As a founder of the Apache Software Foundation and veteran of open source’s early fights, Jim challenges the next generation to become the protectors and fighters the community needs.

Jim recalls the early days when open source was less than an underdog, requiring people to fight battles against Goliath-sized opponents who didn’t believe in the movement. Those fights succeeded because contributors had the fortitude to keep pushing, eventually convincing even skeptics that open source was the right path. 

The plaque he received, inscribed with “Honoring your dedication and work to support the open source community,” represents not just his efforts but the collective work of every sponsor, speaker, attendee, and volunteer who built the ecosystem we enjoy today. Yet Jim warns that those who enjoy the fruits of this labor may not understand what went into creating them or recognize that battles still remain.

Watch more: All Things Open 2025 keynote presentations

The dangers facing open source today are more subtle but no less real. Jim points to several critical areas where the community must stay vigilant: The fight for true open source AI in both letter and spirit, the abuse and confusion of open source’s meaning by companies that should know better, the treatment of community contributors as second-class citizens, and corporate rug pulls disguised as open source initiatives. 

The old “embrace, extend, and extinguish” strategy hasn’t disappeared, it has simply become more insidious with different players. Jim’s message is clear: Open source needs people willing to hold firm, draw lines, and keep fighting rather than always compromising.

Key takeaways

• Victory doesn’t mean the battle is over. Open source succeeded in its early fights, but new threats around AI, community governance, and corporate exploitation require continued vigilance and protection.
• The meaning of open source must be defended. Companies and organizations increasingly abuse or confuse what open source means, requiring the community to push back when definitions get diluted or misused.
• The next generation must step up as fighters. Jim challenges developers to be like Bruce Wayne, earn their scars, and become the open source leaders the community needs and deserves, not just passive beneficiaries of past victories.

Open source’s success brought mainstream acceptance, but that acceptance also brought new challenges. Jim’s call to action reminds us that protecting open source requires more than writing code, it demands active engagement, clear boundaries, and a willingness to fight for the principles that made the movement successful in the first place.

More from We Love Open Source

• Want to get into AI? Start with this.
• Deep dive into the Model Context Protocol
• The secret skill every developer needs to succeed with AI today
• How I use AI agents to automate my workflow and save hours
• Skip the crowded job hunt: Find your tribe instead