[January '21]

Please tell us about yourself

I am Thomas and I founded fosshost back in April 2020. Up until that time, my involvement with the foss community was irregular, however, I have more than 12 years' experience working with IT and technology, it is my passion. The reason I started fosshost was because of the lack of infrastructure support and resources available to free and open-source software projects. We make it easy for projects to access best-of-class infrastructure for their projects. We believe that this reduces inequality, improves the sustainability of open source, and creates new learning and education opportunities. Fosshost has gone in a direction I had never contemplated, which is only a good thing.

What are you working on right now?

We have just launched arm-64.com which is a daily blog that gives a real insight into the world of ARM hardware and our journey of deploying it globally. This is a new service exclusively for the open-source community which is very much community-driven, and only possible because of the kind donation from Ampere Computing. Visit our site and check it our daily!

What is most interesting about that?

Being able to offer projects new and exciting ways to build, test and deploy their software. We can reach new heights, faster and more efficiently. The possibilities are endless. We are already talking to some of the projects we help surrounding global healthcare and medicine.

How did you first discover FOSS?

I was about 15 years old when I was taught Linux by a chap in Australia. He was the one who piqued my interest.

What prompted you to start contributing to FOSS?

I enjoy the learning and networking aspects.

Why should others get involved with FOSS?

The opportunity to meet and work with some exceptionally talented individuals and provide a service that helps so many people in multiple ways.

How should they get started?

Reaching out to fosshost.org is a good step, partly because of our unique position within the community which enables us to make suggestions. You can join our community on discord or IRC see fosshost.org/contact.

What difficulties and limitations do you see with FOSS?

Lack of compliance and governance.

How can they be solved?

Watch this space!

Where do you see difficulties in contributing?

I do see this on a daily basis but open-source contributors most of the time have strong opinions on various topics, occasionally this can be counterproductive.

What does a perfect day off look like?

No emails or messages!