If you’re into open-source and tech meetups, FOSSCOMM is the event to be at. This year, it was held in Thessaloniki, organized by the open-source community of the University of Macedonia (UoM), and they absolutely crushed it with the setup and vibe!
Main Entrance – UoM building
The atmosphere was awesome—super inclusive and welcoming, with folks from all over Greece and beyond coming together to celebrate open-source software. Whether you were a newcomer or a seasoned developer, everyone felt part of the community, sharing knowledge, projects, and ideas.
We were lucky to give two talks at this year’s FOSSCOMM! The first one was about k8s, CRDs, and how we’re using them to tailor k8s clusters to fit our projects’ needs. If you’re curious, here’s the slide deck for that session. We also demoed some of our work—check out the video here. Additionally, we built a step-by-step tutorial for this at Killercoda.
Panos Mavrikos talking about k8s operators & CRDs
The second talk tackled sandboxing workloads in cloud-edge environments, exploring flexibility and performance, the role of hardware accelerators, and how these all impact cloud-edge use cases. It was an exciting session, sparking lots of ideas around security and efficiency. Here’s the slide deck and three demo videos for this talk: Demo 1, Demo 2, and Demo 3.
Anastassios Nanos talking about hardware acceleration in sandboxed environments
The program was absolutely packed this year, with tons of insightful sessions for anyone into open-source, cloud, DevOps, education, IoT, and more! Here are just a couple of standout talks from the packed weekend that really captured the spirit of innovation and open knowledge sharing:
“Lessons from the Unix History” by Professor Diomidis Spinellis from AUEB: A must-see for any history and tech lovers, this talk walked us through the evolution of Unix, exploring its massive influence on modern operating systems and open-source culture. If you’ve ever wondered how Unix’s legacy continues to impact today’s software, this was the place to be.
“Running a Company on Free Software: The First 20 Years” by Apollon Oikonomopoulos, CIO of Skroutz: Apollon shared an inspiring journey of building and managing the core infrastructure of a successful business using free software for over two decades. This talk was especially interesting for anyone wondering about the practicalities of relying on open-source tools in a business setting.
“How to Build a Sustainable Open Source Company” by Frank Karlitschek, CEO of NextCloud: Frank brought tons of insight into what it takes to not just create open-source software but to build a thriving, sustainable business around it. This session had great takeaways on balancing open-source ideals with business realities.
“Quo Vadis, Free Software? Quo Vadis, Society?” by Luis Falcon, Founder of GNU Solidario: A thought-provoking talk on the societal role of free software, and the vision of a world where open-source tech powers humanitarian causes. This session looked at how free software can impact issues like healthcare and education and was a great reminder of the deeper purpose driving open-source communities.
“EdgeAI: A HW-SW Codesign Approach” by George Keramidas from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki: This one was a treat for those interested in the cutting-edge (literally!) of AI at the hardware level. George explored the integration of hardware and software for AI at the edge, showing how open-source innovation is shaping this critical area.
But it wasn’t just about the talks. FOSSCOMM this year was a hub of energy, ideas, and connections! The booth setups were fantastic, ranging from beginner-friendly intros to cutting-edge tech demos. And the people—wow. We met a huge range of enthusiasts, from students trying open-source for the first time to veterans in the field sharing their latest work.
Big shoutout to the entire organizing team for a smooth, engaging event. Everything ran like clockwork, and you could really tell how much care went into making it a positive, collaborative space. If you’re thinking of attending next year, don’t hesitate—FOSSCOMM always delivers, and we can’t wait to see what’s in store for next time!
Looking forward to FOSSCOMM 2025!