Open Source Philosophy

The Idea Behind Open Source

The idea behind open source goes far beyond software. It embodies a societal vision of transforming how knowledge is created, shared and distributed — a vision of knowledge freedom, collaborative innovation and democratization of technology.

Open source does not simply mean that source code is publicly accessible. It means that knowledge is shared, that everyone can learn, improve and contribute. It is a countermodel to artificial scarcity and closed ecosystems.

Knowledge Freedom and Collaborative Innovation

The history of great technological breakthroughs is a history of collaboration. The internet itself emerged from open protocols. Linux — the operating system powering 90% of all servers worldwide — is an open-source project.

When knowledge flows freely:

• Bugs are found and fixed faster
• Innovation emerges from unexpected directions
• The entire community benefits, not just individual companies
• Dependencies on single vendors are avoided

China: Open Source as a Growth Engine

A particularly striking example of the strategic importance of open source comes from China. The country has recognized open source as a central building block of its technological strategy and promotes it at all levels.

Strategy: Technological Independence

China’s open source strategy is part of the comprehensive Made in China 2025 plan. The goal: technological independence from Western vendors — not through isolation, but through active participation in and leadership of open source projects.

Concrete Examples

• OpenHarmony — A fully open operating system, originally initiated by Huawei, now a community project of the OpenAtom Foundation. Runs on smartphones, IoT devices and industrial hardware.
• RISC-V — China is investing heavily in the open processor architecture RISC-V. Companies like Alibaba (T-Head) and StarFive develop powerful RISC-V chips — free from ARM or x86 licensing dependencies.
• Linux and Kubernetes — Thousands of Chinese companies actively contribute to Linux, Kubernetes, Apache and other major projects. Huawei, Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu are among the top contributors worldwide.

State-Sponsored Ecosystem

The Chinese government promotes open source as an economic factor:

• National open source strategy since 2021
• Tax incentives for companies that use and contribute to open source
• Integration into university curricula
• Building domestic platforms (Gitee as a Chinese alternative to GitHub)

The message is clear: whoever controls the foundations of technology controls the future. And open foundations cannot be taken away by a single vendor.

Open Source in Industrial Automation

Industrial automation according to IEC 61131-3 has been a domain of proprietary systems for decades — powerful vendor tools, but with high license costs, vendor-bound device catalogs and closed ecosystems.

The Problem

• License costs: A single engineering workstation typically costs several thousand euros per year
• Vendor lock-in: Programs from one vendor’s tool generally do not run on another vendor’s hardware
• Closed formats: Project files are proprietary and not portable
• Lack of transparency: The user cannot inspect the compiler
• Education barrier: Students and trainees cannot afford the licenses

ForgeIEC Breaks This Monopoly

ForgeIEC proves that an IEC 61131-3 development environment of industrial quality is possible as an open-source project:

• All five IEC languages (ST, IL, FBD, LD, SFC)
• Industrial bus systems (Modbus, EtherCAT, Profibus)
• Real-time debugging and remote operation
• Runs on standard Linux hardware
• No vendor lock-in — open formats, open protocols

A Call to Contribute

Open source thrives on community. Every contribution — be it code, tests, documentation, translations or simply a bug report — moves the project forward.

How You Can Contribute

• Developers: Contribute code, implement features, fix bugs
• Automation engineers: Practical feedback, device testing, use cases
• Translators: Bring ForgeIEC to more languages
• Educators: Use ForgeIEC in training and provide feedback
• Companies: Hardware integration, driver development, sponsorship