>No one starts a project from scratch; instead, they turn to libraries like GitHub or GitLab to download packages of code already written, reviewed, and improved by the community.
Completely false on so many levels.
>Developers spend an average of two-thirds of their time adapting open-source software to their needs
No, they don't. This is just made up. Developers develop with open source software. They do not spend 2/3 of their time "adapting" it.
>Our structure is quite unique: we’re a limited liability company owned by the German government
I know of one similar corporation. Deutsch Bahn.
>which is maintained by people selflessly.
This myth comes up again and again. It just is not true. A large part of open source software is created and maintained by corporations.
>Most people have never heard of curl or pi [Python], or the other 60 technologies we work with. But if this software goes down, suddenly the payment systems stop working.
This persons does not understand what python or curl are. They do not "go down". This is just someone not having a single clue what they are talking about.
>You really need to understand how software developers work and how the open-source ecosystem works.
Well. I guess you don't, to get 20 million in budget from the government.
>We face a classic commons problem: everyone relies on open-source software as a foundation for building their own developments, but no one feels responsible for it. Why should I invest in open-source software if my competitor is also using it and not paying for it?
Again. A total myth, this person has zero understanding of the open source landscape.
>What does open source contribute to the debate on reducing the carbon footprint of technology?
Truly an enlightening question. The answer is even worse.
Reading this like I'd read something from my CEO:
> No, they don't. This is just made up. Developers develop with open source software. They do not spend 2/3 of their time "adapting" it.
Many of our devs jam few-line functions into Spring Boot / JPA / Hibernate / Flask / FastAPI / Django /Some other framework, updating these frameworks, configuring these frameworks. We have a few admins poking configs at PostgreSQL or other OSS solutions. It's not that wrong to call it like that.
> This persons does not understand what python or curl are. They do not "go down". This is just someone not having a single clue what they are talking about.
If you don't build, fix and maintain the software on your own, US embargoes can take down any SaaS solution, and cut you off of binary distribution (I know a guy who couldn't install binaries on an IP that was flagged as russian), source distribution (people getting banned from GH), patches, ...
It does not go down in the traditional sense, but if you have no devs of something in the EU, you can easily get cut off of security updates and get exploited with known problems from a hostile side. If you have your own devs in there it's at least less clear who cuts of whom and who keeps what security problems around in the libraries for whose benefit.
All in all, this reads like a managers take on stuff, but then again, 20M is on the level of pennies at that scale and overall an orientation to OSS and open standards is a good thing imo.
You can also find out her educational background, which includes no technical qualifications. "Adriana holds a master’s degree in public policy and governance from Maastricht University and a bachelor’s degree in sociology and political science from Goethe University Frankfurt."
A person with these qualifications has absolutely zero business heading a government fund. At minimum I would want this person to either have a technical degree or some industry/FOSS experience. I don't think it is unlikely, that this women has not written a single line of code in her life.
The reason is that only such a person can adequately understand why these projects need funding and what the consequences of not funding them are.
I read their website and it is extremely embarrassing as well.
>"Lineare Algebra ist für viele Prozesse in der Mathematik, den Naturwissenschaften, der Informatik, der maschinellen Bilderkennung und dem maschinellen Lernen unerlässlich, da sie es Entwicklerinnen und Forscherinnen ermöglicht, Berechnungen extrem schnell durchzuführen."
To paraphrase: Researchers use linear algebra because it makes their calculations fast.
Mh, if I am contrarian: Optimization of linear algebra is an established important subset of numerical computer science, because you can reduce many important problems to sets of linear equations. I studied that for a semester in many details. Many simulations, fluid, weather or mechanical were at least initially implemented as sets of linear equations because linear equation solvers were well-researched and optimized. Because they were fast and had a predictable range of error.
So yes, LinAlg makes other research go fast.
> A person with these qualifications has absolutely zero business heading a government fund. At minimum I would want this person to either have a technical degree or some industry/FOSS experience. I don't think it is unlikely, that this women has not written a single line of code in her life. > > The reason is that only such a person can adequately understand why these projects need funding and what the consequences of not funding them are.
Though her job could easily be to be the competent at politics and communication, not code. She may fail at the level you are looking at, but many techies at $work with more chops fail in the other direction much, much harder and don't get anything besides frustration.
If you look at the projects they fund, they are good projects.