Knowledge makes you strong

These initiatives are supported by well-known companies that are intensively involved with open source and are thus advancing the areas of automotive IT and operating systems for IoT and Edge. Mike Milinkovich, Executive Director of the Eclipse Foundation, explains in an E-3 interview why these two working groups are a milestone. 

E-3: What exactly will be the focus of the two working groups?

Mike Milinkovich: The Oniro project and working group pursue the goal of creating a transparent, vendor-neutral and independent alternative to the established IoT and edge operating systems. For this reason, we are working with the Chinese open source organization OpenAtom, which hosts the open source operating system OpenHarmony; OpenHarmony, in turn, is the technological basis for the new Oniro operating system. Oniro itself is open source in its purest form: a next-generation operating system that can be the future of mobile, IoT, machine economy, edge and many other applications. Equally exciting is the Software-Defined Vehicle Working Group. Its goal is to create a vendor-neutral open source ecosystem as the foundation for automotive software development.

E-3: Why does the Eclipse Foundation have a strategic focus on these areas?

Milinkovich: With Oniro, we want to strengthen the global technology ecosystem while bringing a vendor-neutral open source operating system to the world market. As a European player, we also see our role in strengthening the digital sovereignty of the region.

E-3: And why are software-defined vehicles a focus?

Milinkovich: The Software-Defined Vehicle Working Group is aimed at next-generation vehicle developers who rely on software-based solutions for their new designs. The Eclipse Foundation believes this will lead to an open source revolution resulting in software-defined vehicles. These will enable vehicle manufacturers and automotive suppliers to put software, rather than hardware, at the center of vehicle development. Although we are already firmly entrenched in the automotive industry, a project of this magnitude has never been done before. Together with other industry leaders, we will now do so.

E-3: How does the cooperation in the working groups work?

Milinkovich: Our working groups provide a venue for strategic alignment of open source technologies, where companies from different industries come together to advance a common interest, whether it's supporting a sector like -automotive or working on specification development in a vendor-neutral way. These ecosystems complement the work that software developers do to enable open collaboration and innovation in enterprises. To ensure that everyone benefits equally from this form of collaboration, a governance charter defines the scope, goals and vision of each working group. A working group creates a level playing field where no person or organization has special status or veto power, regardless of the size of the organization or the number of developers involved in open source projects. Our working groups operate under a vendor-neutral management model and established antitrust and copyright guidelines. This ensures that the open source software developed can be used by all participants.

E-3: What else would you like to add?

Milinkovich: We cannot emphasize enough how important the open source community is to our efforts. The Eclipse Foundation thrives on the contributions of developers, companies and industry representatives who participate in our projects and working groups. We encourage this at all times and strive as an organization to create an environment that allows for transparent, equal and constructive collaboration.

E-3: Thank you very much for the interview.