4 posts tagged with "open source"

Before the open source movement, software programs were 'closed source,' meaning only software developers employed by the company could access and modify them. Outsiders were kept out through non-disclosure agreements and licenses. This exclusivity motivated the creation of the open-source movement, aiming to preserve the freedom to modify and distribute software through publicly accessible code. Today, many commercial companies actively participate in the open-source ecosystem, maintaining software that is open to the public for access and contributions. One such company supporting this effort is ConfigCat.

Let's say you've heard about the benefits of using feature flags for gradual feature rollouts, and you're ready to adopt them in your organization. The next step would be deciding whether to "build or buy."

If you choose to develop your feature flagging tool, you'll need to figure out how to make it fetch, evaluate, and manage feature flags. If you want to use a third-party tool, you might have to learn and unlearn different APIs as you search for the right one.

Challenges like these inspired the creation of OpenFeature, a CNCF (Cloud Native Computing Foundation) project that aims to standardize feature flagging.

In the context of SaaS applications, having a tool that allows you to control different features and flag certain users is critical, given the uniqueness of their needs and the instability of new releases.

This is where the ConfigCat Elixir SDK's tale begins. This is the simplified narrative of a great open-source SDK, driven by highly-professional folks from three different companies, as told by one of its creators.

Sit down, relax, and let me tell you an awesome story about the little country that could. A country that's unapologetically close to my heart. In case the title hasn't already given it away by now, I'm of course talking about the wonderful nation of Iceland.