2026-10-23 –, Room 332
On March 27th, 2026, a coalition of European companies including IONOS and Nextcloud announced "Euro-Office," an AGPLv3-licensed fork of OnlyOffice. While public discourse has rightly focused on the legal nuances of the AGPLv3 license, this talk will rather focus on one of the project's other key objectives: liberating the codebase from a vendor accused of "open-washing."
Using Euro-Office and other high-profile forks as case studies, we will examine the critical role forks play when corporate stewardship fails and trust breaks down. We will move beyond the headlines to dissect the distinct factors that determine whether a fork thrives or withers, revealing that community cohesion and governance are often more decisive than code quality alone. Finally, we will provide a practical framework for developers considering a fork, drawing on historical precedents to outline the risks, benefits, and essential strategies for building a sustainable community.
Dr. Edward Ly is a Portland, Oregon-based software engineer who develops free/open-source AI solutions. In 2024, he obtained his Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Aizu in Japan, where he conducted research on machine learning in digital audio signal processing applications and published his work as free software. Since joining Nextcloud later that year, he has also spoken at open source conferences including FOSDEM, LinuxFest Northwest, SeaGL, FOSSY, and more on topics such as free software, digital sovereignty, and neurodiversity.