Mr. Milinkovich, why is open source software so important - especially for European companies?

Mike Milinkovich: Open source software is important right now because it is the foundation on which the modern world runs. If you look around the world today and consider the tools and applications that businesses and societies rely on every day - including products and services from Google to Amazon to Apple and a host of other innovations that have shaped society - it's important to understand that none of this would be possible without open source software. The latter is not only the basis on which today's world runs. The foreseeable future will also be built on it. The speed at which innovation is created and the level of collaboration that the open source model enables is simply unparalleled.

It is also clear that many European companies have largely missed out on these benefits and are now realizing the consequences of this decision. To create the new platforms needed for future prosperity, both governments and businesses need to focus more on software. They need to master the process of innovation and participation through the open source model.

How has the acceptance of the Eclipse Foundation and the topic of open source developed since the foundation was established in 2004?

Milinkovich: In 2004, open source software was still a relatively new idea in the corporate sector and not very widespread. The variety of possibilities around open source has since grown exponentially and has gone through several waves of innovation and change. At this point in time, there really are no major technology companies that have not embraced open source software. Microsoft was the last company to follow suit. Now everyone is going 'all in' for this approach.
For me, the Eclipse Foundation is part of the beginning of the third wave of open source. The first wave focused on business software applications such as Java and Linux. The second wave happened when large technology system vendors in certain markets joined the open source organizations. Bosch, one of our strategic members, is a good example of this. In the third wave, which is just beginning, we are seeing companies and industries that have traditionally been technology consumers embrace the open source model. In fact, any organization talking about digitization - whether they know it yet or not - will need to master the art of open source.

The Eclipse Foundation is committed to promoting strategic technologies in particular. What is it doing specifically with cloud technologies?

Milinkovich: When it comes to the cloud, much of our community is focused on open source developer tools for cloud-based applications and cloud-based infrastructures. Eclipse Che and Eclipse Theia are both good examples of open source developer tools that run both in and for the cloud.

... and when it comes to edge and fog computing?

Milinkovich: Edge and fog computing are largely one and the same thing. This is one of the most exciting areas of development for the Eclipse Foundation. We are currently the leading open source organization for the development of new technologies in this area. Probably the best example of this is our 'Edge Native Working Group', which includes members such as Siemens, Bosch, Intel, Huawei, Eurotech, Adlink and many others. The 'Eclipse ioFog' and 'Eclipse fog05' projects of this working group are currently gaining considerable traction in the market.

... that leaves artificial intelligence?

Milinkovich: 'Eclipse Deep Learning' for Java, or DL4J, is a machine learning platform that runs on the Java Virtual Machine. It has been downloaded millions of times and is used worldwide by major companies in finance, consumer technology, for municipal applications and much more. We are also looking closely at how projects like DL4J can be connected to edge computing projects like ioFog.

The Eclipse Integrated Development Environment - IDE for short - is the essential development environment for more than six million active users. Now you are creating the next generation of native cloud development tools. What will this generation look like?

Milinkovich: The two cloud-based application development projects I mentioned earlier - Eclipse Che and Eclipse Theia - promise to serve in some ways as a replacement for the Eclipse desktop IDE. Theia is a novel, modern, machine-written IDE platform and is based on a completely new code base that is independent of the Eclipse IDE. It can run in a browser or on the desktop, just like VS code. It uses the VS extension model, but Theia is built as an extensible IDE platform rather than just an editor. These tools have been very well received and are currently used by ARM, Arduino, Ericsson, Google and many others.

When will you be able to deliver on this?

Milinkovich: We are experiencing this right now. Both Theia and Che are generally available and can be used as a platform for product development and as an end user. Che serves as the foundation for Red Hat's CodeReady Workspaces. Eclipse Theia, which is the front-end for Che, has just announced the release of version 1.0. Theia is available for any vendor to develop a new product.