Open Matters Podcast

Collabora Productivity

Exploring open-source, digital standards, and why openness matters

  1. 23 Jun

    How Do You Build a Business Around Open Source?

    What happens when you set off to build a sustainable business around open source software? In this episode of Open Matters, Richard Brock speaks with Lucie Lesage from Jeci, the French company behind the open-source document management platform Pristy. Lucie explains how Jeci grew from one developer providing Alfresco services into a team building its own open-source product. We discuss finding the first customers, selling software before every feature was finished, setting prices, earning trust, and learning to let other developers contribute to something that began as one person’s code. We also explore why Jeci chose Collabora Online for document editing, how open source gives customers confidence that their software can continue even if a supplier disappears, and why “free software” does not mean software that costs nothing. Topics include: • Growing from services into a product company • Winning and supporting the first customers • Pricing open-source software • Building Pristy on top of Alfresco • Why Jeci chose Collabora Online • Free as in freedom—not free of cost • Open-source and French-first business principles • Pristy Marchés and future product plans 🔔 Subscribe for more discussions on open-source tech! iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/open-matters-podcast/id1807042369 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4frqRzV9DsAC0HfJ3ewaeD RSS: https://www.collaboraonline.com/feed/mp3/ The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of Collabora Productivity or its affiliates. The content is provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered official guidance or fact-checked technical documentation. 00:00 Intro 01:01 How did you first get into OSS? 01:53 How did that shape how you think about software today? 02:28 What is Jeci? 03:03 This wasn’t the original direction? 04:14 Are you a product or services company? 04:57 What was difficult about the early days? 05:28 What drove the change? 06:03 What was COVID like? 07:28 Is that when you discovered Collabora Online? 08:19 Did you consider alternatives? 09:12 Transitioning from a single developer to a team 10:09 How did you pitch the new idea? 12:11 Pricing difficulties 13:30 How to find customers? 15:35 How are things growing now?! 17:05 Free vs. freedom 20:16 Changes to Alfresco and Nuxeo 21:46 Lucie’s experience leading marketing 26:26 Is everything on-premise at Jeci? 27:23 Future plans!

    30 min

  2. 12 May

    How Events Help Build Open Source Communities

    Open source doesn’t grow through code alone — it also grows through communities. And communities are built when people meet, share ideas, and sometimes argue over coffee in conference hallways. In this episode of Open Matters, Richard Brock speaks with Eirini Athanasopoulou from Nextcloud about the human side of open source: events, community, storytelling, and what it takes to bring distributed people together in real life. Eirini shares her journey from literature and TEDx in Greece to organising international events at Nextcloud, including Enterprise Days, the Nextcloud Summit, and the Community Conference. We talk about why in-person events still matter, how open-source events differ from generic tech conferences, and why event management is “project management with a little bit of fun and magic.” And yes — there is also a pizza disaster story. 🔔 Subscribe for more discussions on open-source tech! iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/open-matters-podcast/id1807042369 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4frqRzV9DsAC0HfJ3ewaeD RSS: https://www.collaboraonline.com/feed/mp3/ The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of Collabora Productivity or its affiliates. The content is provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered official guidance or fact-checked technical documentation. 00:00 Intro 03:48 From Greece to Berlin 04:39 From volunteering to work 06:18 What are the different Nextcloud events? 09:02 What about hybrid/online events? 10:25 What are the numbers? 13:40 Why should we come? 15:27 Any amusing stories? 16:58 What keeps you awake before an event? 19:17 What does Richard enjoy about events? 21:28 How do you measure success?

    24 min

  3. 6 Apr

    Germany's Digital Experiment - Can Governments Build Their Own Tech Stack?

    Germany isn’t just talking about digital sovereignty — it’s building it. 🇩🇪 80,000+ users pilot scheme 🧩 8 vendors, one platform 🚀 Federal rollout coming in 2027 Inside ZenDiS and openDesk — and what it really takes to assemble a sovereign digital workplace with open source. In this episode, Richard Brock is joined by Victor Moster (ZenDiS) and Thorsten Behrens (Collabora Productivity). 🔔 Subscribe for more discussions on open-source tech! iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/open-matters-podcast/id1807042369 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4frqRzV9DsAC0HfJ3ewaeD RSS: https://www.collaboraonline.com/feed/mp3/ The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of Collabora Productivity or its affiliates. The content is provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered official guidance or fact-checked technical documentation.

    34 min

  4. 6 Mar

    Customers Deserve a Choice: Cloud or On-Prem

    In this episode of Open Matters, Richard Brock speaks with Johan Bernhardsson from Redpill Linpro, one of the Nordic region’s leading open-source consultancies. Johan shares what real-world migrations look like: from replacing aging NAS drives with Nextcloud to building GDPR-sensitive collaboration platforms, and helping organizations move at their own pace. We discuss: -Why “cloud-first” often means “no real choice” -How open-source migrations actually begin -Why user experience matters more than features -The growing demand for on-prem and sovereign deployments -And why digital change is still slow — but accelerating If digital sovereignty is more than a slogan, this is what it looks like on the ground. 🔔 Subscribe for more discussions on open-source tech! iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/open-matters-podcast/id1807042369 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4frqRzV9DsAC0HfJ3ewaeD RSS: https://www.collaboraonline.com/feed/mp3/ The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of Collabora Productivity or its affiliates. The content is provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered official guidance or fact-checked technical documentation.

    20 min
  5. "If It Has a CPU, We Can Run It" - How Collabora Online Escaped the Browser

    2 Feb

    "If It Has a CPU, We Can Run It" - How Collabora Online Escaped the Browser

    In this episode of Open Matters, Richard Brock speaks with Thorsten Behrens, Tor Lillqvist & Jan Holesovsky – the three principal engineers behind the new Collabora Office release, about what it really means to move a complex application from the browser to the desktop. They explain how Collabora Online has been transformed into a native desktop app that runs entirely locally while preserving the same user interface and architecture, and why this approach is fundamentally different from simply wrapping a web app. The conversation explores the technical and conceptual challenges of cross-platform software, the limitations of browser environments, lessons learned from earlier mobile ports, and the importance of reusing a shared core across web, desktop, and mobile. Along the way, the engineers reflect on portability, performance, security, and developer experience, revealing why building truly cross-platform software in many cases is difficult – and how they succeeded. Subscribe for more discussions on open-source tech! iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/open-matters-podcast/id1807042369 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4frqRzV9DsAC0HfJ3ewaeD RSS: https://www.collaboraonline.com/feed/mp3/ The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of Collabora Productivity or its affiliates. The content is provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered official guidance or fact-checked technical documentation.

    27 min
  6. 8.5% of Americans Self-Host — The Numbers (and Risks) We Didn’t Have Before

    5 Jan

    8.5% of Americans Self-Host — The Numbers (and Risks) We Didn’t Have Before

    8.5% of the U.S. population self-hosts at least one internet-facing service — from websites and file storage to smart home tools and password syncing. But what motivates people to do it… and what risks come with it? In this episode of Open Matters, Dr. Lea Gröber (ICSI Berkeley) joins us to unpack the latest research on self-hosting, digital sovereignty, and the real-world security challenges of running services from home. We also ask the uncomfortable question: are we romanticising “sovereignty” while ignoring security risks — and is self-hosting a bad idea for most people? Subscribe for more discussions on open-source tech! iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/open-matters-podcast/id1807042369 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4frqRzV9DsAC0HfJ3ewaeD RSS: https://www.collaboraonline.com/feed/mp3/ The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of Collabora Productivity or its affiliates. The content is provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered official guidance or fact-checked technical documentation.

    19 min
  7. Open Source for Citizens: Denmark’s Bold Experiment

    01/12/2025

    Open Source for Citizens: Denmark’s Bold Experiment

    Denmark tried to legislate open source and Big Tech pushed back hard. Nearly 20 years later, open-source solutions are running citizen services in municipalities across the country and even powering the tax authority in Greenland. In this episode, Magenta CEO Morten Kjærsgaard explains Denmark’s “first wave” and “second wave” of open-source adoption, and how open-source companies across Europe are now working together to build truly sovereign public-sector technology. Subscribe for more discussions on open-source tech! iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/open-matters-podcast/id1807042369 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4frqRzV9DsAC0HfJ3ewaeD RSS: https://www.collaboraonline.com/feed/mp3/ The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of Collabora Productivity or its affiliates. The content is provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered official guidance or fact-checked technical documentation.

    26 min
  8. Why Pay for 'Free' Software?

    03/11/2025

    Why Pay for 'Free' Software?

    Open source is “free”—so why do serious teams pay for it? In this episode, Eloy Crespo breaks down the real value behind paid open-source offerings: support, SLAs, performance, security, compliance, integrations, and long-term sustainability. We cover: “Free as in beer” vs. “free as in freedom”—what businesses actually buy Why support, SLAs, and accountability matter at scale Interoperability, open standards, and avoiding vendor lock-in Real-world examples of starting “free” and moving to paid How open source stays sustainable (and why it needs funding) If you’ve ever asked or been asked “why pay for free software?”, this is your answer. Subscribe for more discussions on open-source tech! iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/open-matters-podcast/id1807042369 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4frqRzV9DsAC0HfJ3ewaeD RSS: https://www.collaboraonline.com/feed/mp3/ The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of Collabora Productivity or its affiliates. The content is provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered official guidance or fact-checked technical documentation.

    21 min
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About

Exploring open-source, digital standards, and why openness matters

Information

  • Creator
    Collabora Productivity
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    15
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Show Website
    Open Matters Podcast