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I am a results-driven technology executive with 25+ years of professional experience and a rich blend of strategic leadership, product development expertise, and deep-seated passion for open-source software. I am currently working as an independent consultant.
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Estonia, the country of the fit and the wit
While many Western democracies seem to be in a state of decay and are no longer the safe, civilized and prosperous countries they once were, there are still some European countries that are governed well. One of those that stand out is Estonia.n
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Balancing persistence vs pivoting - is grit a virtue or wasteful?
Being persistent, sticking to a plan and showing up to work every day is generally valued highly across all cultures as virtuous behavior. It is obvious that anything of value and worth achieving is also not easy, but requires significant and recurring ef
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Ubuntu Pro subscription - should you pay to use Linux?
Ubuntu Pro is a subscription offering for Ubuntu users who want to pay for the assurance of getting quick and high-quality security updates for Ubuntu. I tested it out to see how it works in practice, and to evaluate how well it works as a commercial open
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Stop using MySQL in 2026, it is not true open source
If you care about supporting open source software, and still use MySQL in 2026, you should switch to MariaDB like so many others have already done.n
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DEP-18: A proposal for Git-based collaboration in Debian
I am a huge fan of Git, as I have witnessed how it has made software development so much more productive compared to the pre-2010s era. I wish all Debian source code were in Git to reap the full benefits.n
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Could the XZ backdoor have been detected with better Git and Debian packaging practices?
The discovery of a backdoor in XZ Utils in the spring of 2024 shocked the open source community, raising critical questions about software supply chain security. This post explores whether better Debian packaging practices could have detected this threat,
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Zero-configuration TLS and password management best practices in MariaDB 11.8
Locking down database access is probably the single most important thing for a system administrator or software developer to prevent their application from leaking its data. As MariaDB 11.8 is the first long-term supported version with a few new key secur
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Best Practices for Submitting and Reviewing Merge Requests in Debian
Historically the primary way to contribute to Debian has been to email the Debian bug tracker with a code patch. Now that 92% of all Debian source packages are hosted at salsa.debian.org - the GitLab instance of Debian - more and more developers are using
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Debcraft - Easiest way to modify and build Debian packages
Debian packaging is notoriously hard. Far too many new contributors give up while trying, and many long-time contributors leave due to burnout from having to do too many thankless maintenance tasks. Some just skip testing their changes properly because it
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Corporate best practices for upstream open source contributions
This post is based on a presentation given at the Validos annual members' meeting on June 25th, 2025.n
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