The Open Source Way

In this episode, our host Karsten Hohage talks with Johannes Bechberger, who is an open-source developer at SAP. They discuss why and how Johannes promotes his work on SapMachine, OpenJDK, and profiling through blogging, speaking at conferences, and having a presence on social media. Johannes also shares tips and learnings collected on his journey of “doing good and talking about it”. Guests: Joha...

In this episode, our host Karsten Hohage talks with our guests Georg Gruetter from Robert Bosch and Michael Picht from SAP about common concerns regarding InnerSource. They debunk some of the frequent myths surrounding InnerSource and explain the many benefits of its utilization, including its versatility and its innovative and collaborative nature. In the course of the conversation, they also dis...

In this episode, our host Karsten Hohage talks with our guests Alan Clarke and Keith Seigel about SUSE Enterprise Linux and and Linux in general. The speakers discuss how the SUSE distribution relates to Linux as an open source project and and talk about the development of new projects like Trento. They also mention the certification process, the subscription for patches and updates, discuss an ex...

In this episode, our host Karsten Hohage talks with our guests Christian Georgi and Daniel Hutzel about the SAP Cloud Application Programming Model (CAP), a Software Development Kit (SDK) to build applications in the enterprise world.  They speak about how CAP is gradually being open-sourced so that it can evolve with the help of its community. This will allow, for instance, the support of ad...

In this episode, our host Karsten Hohage talks with our guest Christoph Szymanski about Project Piper, an open source library for the creation of continuous integration and delivery pipelines. Christoph speaks about how Project Piper relates to the SAP-proprietary service “SAP Continuous Integration and Delivery“ and how Piper became a successful offering to anybody working with SAP development pr...

In this episode, our host Karsten Hohage talks with our guest Arne Arnold from Red Hat about Linux and the role of distributors in the open-source world. Arne speaks about his journey from SAP to Red Hat and how the distributor made its way to become a catalyst for open-source communities. We also learn how Arne started his Linux career contributing to the search for extraterrestrial life from his...

In this episode, our host Karsten Hohage talks with our guest Shane Coughlan about OpenChain by the Linux Foundation and some other projects that build trust in the supply chain. Shane gives an overview of developments around open source and intellectual property over the last 20 years. We also learn about why OpenChain can be compared to shipping containers, and how organizations like the NSA hav...

In this episode, our host Karsten Hohage talks with our guests Ruben Koster and Beyhan Veli about Cloud Foundry, a platform-as-a-service offering for application developers. Ruben and Beyhan talk about their personal journey with Cloud Foundry, how it works, and how it relates to VMware, Pivotal, and SAP. We also learn about their run for Cloud Foundry’s Technical Oversight Committee and their fut...

In this episode, our host Karsten Hohage talks with our guests Volker Buzek and Peter Muessig about wdi5, an open-source end-to-end testing framework for UI5. Volker and Peter explain the history of wdi5, how to use it, and how it became a community project. We also learn about planned features of wdi5 and how to best get involved. Guests: Volker Buzek is an IT-Architect at j&s-soft GmbH with...

In this episode, our host Karsten Hohage talks with our guest Dr. Dawn Foster, PhD. from VMware about VMware’s open source strategy, and the importance of community and project health. Dawn explains project health metrics, how they contribute to improving projects, and how well-documented processes and governance help scale communities and keep them healthy. We also learn about Dawn’s impressive e...

In this episode, our host Karsten Hohage talks to Nell Shamrell-Harrington from Microsoft and Sebastian Wolf from SAP about ClearlyDefined, a central data store for all open-source licenses across many different open-source ecosystems, and open source supply chain security at Microsoft. Nell explains both projects, talks about Microsoft’s open source history and evolution, and we also learn about...

How these open-source initiatives contribute to securely processing, sharing, and managing data across organizations In this episode, our host Karsten Hohage talks with Nemrude “Rudi” Verzano, head of Industry 4.0 and Digital Supply Chain Innovation at SAP, about the open-source initiatives in Gaia-X, Catena-X, and International Data Spaces that represent some of the cooperation efforts between th...

In this episode, our host Karsten Hohage talks with our guests Wolfgang Gehring and Christian Wege about FOSS at Mercedes-Benz Group AG. Wolfgang and Christian explain how and why Mercedes-Benz enables their employees to become and stay active in open source, which open-source projects they are working on, and how they contribute to the open-source world outside of Mercedes-Benz. We also learn why...

In this episode, our host Karsten Hohage talks with Yordan Pavlov and Dragomir Anachkov about the open-source projects Eclipse Dirigible, an application platform, and XSK, an environment compatible with SAP HANA Extended Application Services (XS). Yordan and Dragomir explain the projects, how they relate to each other, why they were open-sourced, and the benefits they offer. We also learn how they...

In this episode, our host Karsten Hohage talks with our guests Christoph Langer and Thomas Stüfe about SapMachine, an SAP-distributed version of OpenJDK. Christoph and Thomas explain what SapMachine is, how it came to be and evolved, and why SAP contributes to the OpenJDK. We also learn about the difference between SapMachine, OpenJDK, and SAP JVM, and how to best get involved. Guests: Thomas join...

In this episode, Karsten Hohage talks with our guests DJ Adams and Jens Haley about the Open Documentation Initiative, an initiative to make the documentation of SAP Business Technology Platform content collaborative and interactive. DJ and Jens explain the project’s current status, where it’s heading, and what makes it so unique. We also learn how to get involved and what the different type...

In this episode, our host Karsten Hohage talks with our guests Jack Schueler and Sebastian Wolf about Watcom, a spinoff of the University of Waterloo from the 1980s. Jack, who is one of the founding employees of Watcom, talks about how the Watcom C/C++ project came to be, how it evolved over time, how it was open sourced in 2002, and what it is today. He also shares his personal journey and how he...

In this episode Karsten Hohage talks with our guests Mladen Droshev and Fabian Tempel about the Fundamental Library, an open-source library created to help application developers align the user experience based on any web application framework with the SAP Fiori Design. Mladen and Fabian talk about their own Fundamental Library journey, explain the benefits of using it, and how to best get started...

In this episode Karsten Hohage talks with our guests André Borrmann and Philipp Degler about Rust, a programming language that was open-sourced from the start. Philipp and André talk about Rust’s evolution, explain its growing popularity within the community, and explore the possibilities it offers. We also learn why a strict compiler is better than a friendly one and why working with Rust can som...

In this episode Karsten Hohage talks with our guests Marika Marszalkowski and Frank Essenberger about the SAP Cloud SDK, an NPM library which helps develop web applications on SAP’s Business Technology Platform. We learn about the evolution and benefits of the SDK, the differences and similarities of its Java and JavaScript flavors, SAP’s decision to run it as an open source project, and the chall...

In this episode Karsten Hohage talks with Dobrinka Mladenova and Janaka Bohr about how the license compliance processes for open source at SAP evolved over the past 20 years. By, for example, implementing automation, tools, and standardization, SAP now has a developer-friendly approach and at the same time addresses crucial customer concerns. Dobrinka and Janaka speak about OpenChain, the internat...

In this episode Karsten Hohage talks with our guests Holger Streidl, Corporate Open Source Officer at Carl Zeiss AG and Peter Giese, Director of the SAP Open Source Program Office. They address many of the questions that arise for an enterprise when establishing an OSPO and talk about the commonalities or differences of the OSPOs and their approaches at ZEISS and SAP – for example, when creating p...

In this episode Karsten Hohage talks with our guests Michael Bernhardt and Artem Smotrakov about Fosstars, a java-based framework that allows you to define various ratings for open source projects. The name “Fosstars” is a combination of “FOSS” for “Free and Open Source Software” and the concept of rating products or services with “stars”. It helps software engineers and architects to quickly asse...

In this episode Karsten Hohage talks with our guests Klaus Häuptle and Florian Hoffmann about the importance of having a readable and maintainable codebase to ensure sustainable development. Klaus and Florian started an internal repository with best practices for maintainable and readable ABAP code. Through info sessions with many hundreds of participants, intense discussions, and great contributi...

In this episode Karsten Hohage talks with our guests Andreas Kunz and Peter Muessig about OpenUI5. OpenUI5 is a JavaScript-based web user interface framework. One that specifically targets enterprise use cases, but can be used for any type of application. Andreas and Peter explain how OpenUI5, SAPUI5, and SAP Fiori are related and how OpenUI5 became an open source project. They elaborate why the m...