Review of the Genode Community Summer Oct 01, 2019

We experimented with a new type of event, fostering the community spirit among users and developers of Genode.

From the get-go, we tried to foster Genode as a healthy community of operating-system enthusiasts. In our professional relationships, we tirelessly advocate the transparent model of developing Free and Open-Source Software in public sight. This model cultivates the dissemination of knowledge and experience, and thereby the empowerment of individuals. It is in stark contrast to business ventures that commercially exploit know-how as an exclusive asset that needs protection. In the Free-Software world, we are free to let ideas flow, share our findings, seek assistance from others, and develop friendships.

In this spirit, we came up with the idea to open our office doors to the Genode community, thereby giving enthusiasts and professional users alike the opportunity to enjoy our collaborative environment, tap the brains of seasoned Genode developers, and get to know each other.

To our surprise, our rather short-term announcement was met with great interest. We enjoyed hosting 11 participants from 5 different countries. The two weeks were filled with topics ranging from NOVA kernel work, over various ARM platforms, virtualization, great advances of Genode on Linux, stressing our OpenGL stack, to the adventures of porting highly complex software. The feedback from the attendees left us with no doubt: A come-together like this calls for more!