Life at Eclipse

As we approach the Open Community Experience (OCX), scheduled to take place from 22-24 October in Mainz, Germany, my anticipation and excitement continues to build. This event marks a new chapter for our community, with a fresh conference format that I believe will bring even more value to all of us. The focus on collocated events is something I’m particularly enthusiastic about, as it allows us to explore a broader range of topics including automotive and Java, while EclipseCon remains at the heart of this experience. 

Whether you’re a regular EclipseCon attendee or joining us from one of the many communities that make up our “community of communities,” I look forward to connecting with you. For me, our flagship conference is more than just an event—it’s a yearly highlight where I get to reconnect with old friends, make new ones, and engage in the meaningful conversations that drive our collective work forward. 

I’m honoured to be delivering the keynote on “The State of the Eclipse Foundation” this year. I’ll be sharing key updates, our vision for the future, and how we plan to continue driving innovation in the open source space. As we celebrate the Eclipse Foundation’s 20th anniversary, it’s a pivotal moment for us, and I’m excited to take you along on this journey.

But it’s not just me you’ll hear from. We’ve lined up a stellar group of keynote speakers, each bringing their unique expertise and deep expertise in their respective fields. Prepare to be inspired by some of the brightest minds in the industry:

• Haibo Chen from Huawei will deliver an exciting session titled “Empowering a Connected Intelligent World With OpenHarmony and Oniro.” This talk will explore how OpenHarmony and Oniro, both open source initiatives, are driving the connected intelligent future.
• Cédric Dumont, an extreme sports athlete and base-jumping pioneer, will provide the inspirational keynote “Scaling New Heights: Emerging trends in performance and leadership for thriving as a team in disruption.”
• Ruth Ikegah, an Open Source Program Manager, acclaimed speaker, and GitHub Star, will deliver her keynote “From Local Roots to Global Impact: Building an Inclusive Open Source Community in Africa.” Ruth will highlight how inclusivity fuels innovation and growth within the global open source community.
• Yann Lechelle from Probabl will take the stage with “Eyes Wide Open, AIs Wide Open – Or How to Remain in Control in the Age of AI,” exploring the big picture implications of compute, data, and machine learning, and how we can stay competitive while safeguarding the values that make us human.
• Sarah Novotny, a leading voice in open source, who has guided projects like Kubernetes, OpenTelemetry, NGINX, and MySQL, will present “We Build Software in the Open to Build Trust.” She’ll discuss the need for transparent and collaborative open source software development and its profound economic and societal impact.
• Leandro von Werra, from Hugging Face, will offer insights into the future of LLMs for code and how the BigCode project is paving the way for open and responsible AI-driven development at the session “BigCode: Building Open LLMs for Code”. 

And that’s just the beginning. OCX 2024 is packed with sessions, workshops, and networking opportunities designed to spark innovation, collaboration, and growth. Whether you’re deeply involved in open source software or just beginning your journey, there’s something here for everyone.

I’m genuinely excited about what we’ll experience together at OCX 2024. This is our chance to come together, share our knowledge, and set the stage for the future of open source development. Don’t miss the opportunity to save by taking advantage of early bird pricing—register before 7 October 2024. 

See you there!