Software Engineering Daily · Thursday, October 1, 2026
David Burns argues for corporate responsibility in supporting open-source projects that businesses rely on, citing risks like supply chain attacks and the potential for maintainer burnout. He suggests that investing in open source secures a company's own supply chain and mitigates risks, rather than solely focusing on competitive advantages.
“What's the risk of everyone stopping work on their projects? I think it's the biggest one, right?”
“You need to look after the things that make you money. as a whole, right? Supplies and things like that. And especially in the age of AI, I think supply chain attacks are going to become a lot more prevalent. So if you're in there and helping secure everything, yes, you give away some things. But at the end of the day, you're making sure your business is as risk-free as possible.”
“So there's a lot of give and take that then becomes really good.”