Indirect ways to support FOSS projects and the ecosystem [4.5.7.6]

Next to supporting FOSS projects directly, there are many other, more indirect ways to support projects and the ecosystem. We already mentioned torservers.net above.

Some other examples:

• freeing IP, i.e. buying rights to source code and patents to make these assets available to the FOSS community [AMPR/ARDC];
  participating in FOSS IP pools; [OIN] or
  supporting FOSS that develops open standards [for example, saving PCB designs in an open file format was the main reason for CERN to support KiCad];
• participating in FOSS organisations (see also section <4.5.1>);
• running nodes for federated/distributed networks and services, such as cryptocurrencies and social networks, as described above;
• and of course: becoming a notable user of FOSS, contributing and developing source code, and actively participating in the community at all levels, as described in the European Commission's 'Open Source Software Strategy 2020–2023'.https://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/informatics/open-source-software-strategy_en

This article is part of the research performed for the EC project 'Development of a Funding Mechanism for Sustaining Open Source Software for European Public Services' (2022).