In our conversation at KubeCon in Paris, Jonah Kowall of Aiven discusses his extensive background in observability, his role at Aiven overseeing product management, and his active involvement in open source projects such as Jaeger, OpenSearch, and OpenTelemetry. We also touch on software licensing and Redis's shift to proprietary software. We explore the challenges of maintaining project sustainability, attracting new contributors, and the importance of cross-project collaboration within the open source community. The discussion encapsulates the vibrant dynamics of open source development, the evolving landscape of observability tools, and underscores the collective endeavor to foster innovation and sustainability in this space.

00:00 Introduction

01:19 Deep Dive into Jaeger: The Observability Tool

02:21 Exploring OpenSearch and Its Ecosystem

03:27 The Impact of Licensing Changes on Open Source

06:20 The Challenge of Sustaining Open Source Projects

09:36 Fostering New Contributors and Community Engagement

12:30 Observability Trends and the Future of Open Source

19:25 Enhancing Collaboration in the Open Source Ecosystem

20:55 Final Thoughts and Advice for Aspiring Contributors

Resources:

Jaeger: open source, distributed tracing platform (jaegertracing.io)

OpenTelemetry

OpenSearch

Guest:

Jonah Kowall, computer scientist and open-source contributor to OpenSearch, Jaeger, OpenTelemetry. A technical leader across startups to large enterprises specialized in operations, security, and performance. Led Gartner research on monitoring. Product leadership at AppDynamics, Cisco (post-acquisition), Kentik, Logz.io, and is current the head of product management at Aiven building tomorrow’s open source data platform for everyone.