Episode 197: FOSSY 2023 with Joe Castle

Guest Joe Castle Panelist Richard Littauer Show Notes Hello and welcome to Sustain! Richard is in Portland at FOSSY, the Free and Open Source Software Yearly conference that is held by the Software Freedom Conservancy. Today, Richard speaks with Joe Castle from SAS, a global analytics and AI company, about the fascinating world of open source software. Joe, who supports the federal team at SAS, shares the company’s journey from its roots as a statistical software company in the 1970s to its current role as an AI leader. We’ll dive into SAS’s integral involvement with open source software, how it supports and contributes to the community, and its ambitious plans for future engagement. Explore Joe’s unique insights into the motivations and sustainability of corporate open source efforts and discover how SAS balances financial incentive with authentic community engagement. Tune in for an exciting conversation about SAS’s shift towards greater open source integration and its commitment to building superior products, and ongoing discussions about making Python packages a first-class citizen in SAS. Hit download now! [00:00:30] Joe explains his role at SAS, explaining how he supports the federal team at SAS and how it involves business development with government executives and advocating for and developing open source software. [00:00:54] What does SAS do? Joe describes it as an analytics and AI company, and SAS clients are not just federal governments but also span industries such as banking, insurance, and more across the globe. [00:01:51] Joe discusses how SAS uses and supports open source. Their product suite allows integration with Python, R, Lua, and JavaScript. [00:03:33] Richard asks Joe to explain where SAS fits on the spectrum of corporate influence on open source. Joe tells us that SAS is involved in all aspects of open source usage, development, and contribution. [00:05:36] Joe talks about SAS’s evolution from being a statistical software company to an AI company and how open source figures in the