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Stefano Maffulli

@maffulli.net
985 followers 183 following 530 posts

Also an architect, GIS enthusiast, sailor.

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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 3h
@element.io is a good product. If you try to push it down the throat of people used to calendars integrated in emails, in chat, into documents, they'll call anything s**t. 20+ years of people trained to use Microsoft products following the ECDL: what do you expect? www.politico.eu/article/eu-...
politico.eu
‘Absolute s–t’: EU’s Microsoft Teams alternative draws bad reviews from officials
The U.S. would “instantly” win a hypothetical tech war, an official moaned.
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Reposted by Stefano Maffulli
Grist @getgrist.com · 5h
GristCon is starting in 5 minutes! Hop onto our Discord server to join. Full agenda: www.getgrist.com/gristcon-2026/#age…
getgrist.com
GristCon 2026
Join GristCon 2026 on Discord for live demos, sneak peeks, and hands-on workshops: free for users, partners, and no-code builders.
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Reposted by Stefano Maffulli
Grist @getgrist.com · 29/09/2026
The whole system depended on the ability to read requirements out of the database, feed them into a document generation pipeline, and push the resulting PDFs back into the database.
getgrist.com
How Dotphoton built a fully traceable QA system for the European Space Agency| Grist
Dotphoton tried IBM Doors, Notion, and Word for a satellite project’s requirements traceability. Only two days after picking Grist, they had a working system.
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 29/09/2026
A majority of AI policies, 83.3%, permit or encourage AI use in code contributions. However, permissions come with conditions: 67.3% require a high level of human involvement, 48.8% require disclosure of AI usage, and 43.4% assign accountability to the human contributor. arxiv.org/abs/2609.07542 #AI
arxiv.org
"We Permit the Use of AI, but [...]": The Landscape of AI Policies in Popular Open Source Projects
Open source communities are converging on a new governance artifact: the AI contribution policy. These policies barely existed a few months ago and are now being written and adopted. We analyzed 281…
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 29/09/2026
The Landscape of AI Policies in Popular Open Source Projects research may be based on a small (yet representative) dataset, but … Source: arxiv.org/abs/2609.07542 #AI #OpenSource
arxiv.org
"We Permit the Use of AI, but [...]": The Landscape of AI Policies in Popular Open Source Projects
Open source communities are converging on a new governance artifact: the AI contribution policy. These policies barely existed a few months ago and are now being written and adopted. We analyzed 281…
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 29/09/2026
Legally, binary and source code are considered the same thing. The training dataset and weights aren't the same thing viewed from a different angle, neither technically nor from a legal standpoint. I still see people repeating this argument: spreading will only lead to bad policies. #AI #OpenSource
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 29/09/2026
The analogy source:binary = data:weights is as attractive as it's misleading. Source and binary are the same artifact of human intellect: one suitable for consumption by human, while the other is the same thing suitable for machine interpretation. One can derive from the other. #OpenSource #AI
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 28/09/2026
I'll be speaking here! See you there.
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 25/09/2026
Preparing my talk at the Open Source Conference in Luxembourg, I updated my article tracking how the open web is building guardrails around AI crawlers. News from the @IETF AIPref working group and @CreativeCommons Signals www.maffulli.net/the-landscap... #AI #OpenData #OpenSource #Training
maffulli.net
https://www.maffulli.net/the-landscape-of-preference-signaling-for-ai-training/
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 25/09/2026
Regulators have to act on distribution and access, on what a license permits and who can get the files, because that’s the only lever still standing once the weights are loose. www.maffulli.net/2026/08/25/the-lic… #ai #data #OpenSource
maffulli.net
The license is all you need (for Open Source AI)
Over two years of practice and recent policy decisions prove that the Open Source AI Definition v1.0 is valid. Now let’s focus on the other unresolved issues, like fairness.
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 23/09/2026
A table from @Mozilla.ai's State of Open Source AI v1.1 shows that the weights' license is the most important factor in the OSAI debate. Proof? See how Thomson Reuters created Thomson LLM As I said: The license is all you need www.maffulli.net/2026/08/25/the-license-is-all-you-need-open-source-ai
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 22/09/2026
I spent two years leading the process that identified what “Open Source” should mean when the thing being opened is a foundation model instead of a codebase. My current thoughts of the issue, 2 years after the OSAID v1.0 #ai #data #OpenSource
maffulli.net
The license is all you need (for Open Source AI)
Over two years of practice and recent policy decisions prove that the Open Source AI Definition v1.0 is valid. Now let’s focus on the other unresolved issues, like fairness.
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Reposted by Stefano Maffulli
OpenAlternative @openalternative.co · 19/09/2026
Most cloud platforms assume you're renting someone else's infrastructure. OpenStack flips that: compute, storage and networking for VMs, bare metal and containers, behind one API or dashboard. Walmart and China Mobile run on it. @openstack.org openalternative.co/openstack
openalternative.co
OpenStack: Open Source Alternative to Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure
OpenStack manages compute, storage, and networking across VMs, bare metal, and containers via APIs or a dashboard. Trusted by Walmart, China Mobile, and more.
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 18/09/2026
The generic term "Open source sustainability" collapses a varied ecosystem into a single specimen: that can't lead to good policies. You can't treat Postgres, Curl and @getGrist.com or @passbolt.bsky.social the same way. More on www.getgrist.com/blog/stop-sa...
getgrist.com
Stop saying “open source sustainability”
Open source is never actually free. The cost of features, security, and continuity doesn't disappear just because nobody's charging for it — it just moves somewhere you're not looking, until it…
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Reposted by Stefano Maffulli
Grist @getgrist.com · 18/09/2026
The words “open source sustainability” seem to imply that the whole open source ecosystem has a systemic problem. www.getgrist.com/blog/stop-saying-o… #business #OpenSource #sustainability
getgrist.com
Stop saying “open source sustainability” | Grist
Why we need to ask if open source projects have a way to thrive, and if so, who’s paying for it?
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 18/09/2026
You can't put @postgresql.org @npmjs.com and @passbolt.bsky.social in the same category. Open Source as a whole *is* sustainable. Users, customers and policy makers are confused by this generic term.
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 15/09/2026
My talk at the Open Source Conference Luxembourg will cover the latest on AI Preference Signals and a recommendation on how to get out of the AI training conundrum. pretalx.com/open-source-.... See you on Oct 7 #AI #OpenSource
pretalx.com
https://pretalx.com/open-source-conference-luxembourg-2026/schedule/
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 15/09/2026
Read it on: www.theregister.com/columnists/2... #OpenSource #AI
theregister.com
https://www.theregister.com/columnists/2026/09/15/open-weights-are-not-open-source-why-ais-favorite-label-is-under-dispute/5295436
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 15/09/2026
Today @sjvn resurfaced the criticisms to the Open Source AI Definition talking about the first community review of a license targeting LLMs (OpenMDW). But 23 months after the release of OSAID v1 its critics 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧’𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 to propose any alternative that is practical, usable, or used in practice.
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 15/09/2026
Con il plugin Friends riesco anche a seguire altri account ActivityPub (e RSS) e leggere/postare da un'app Mastodon. L'unico difetto è che la ricerca sul fediverse non c'è da WP... non è proprio identico a usare un account Mastodon.
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 15/09/2026
Ricordi bene :) Il blog ora è ActivityPub, lo uso come un account Mastodon. Indieweb l'ho abbandonato.
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Reposted by Stefano Maffulli
Luis Villa @lu.is · 15/09/2026
If, like me, you’d never heard of SCP until this week and are struggling to figure out what it is and how it relates to CC, @technollama.bsky.social has done us a solid: www.technollama.co.uk/v-h-s-scp-wh...
technollama.co.uk
V/H/S SCP: When fandom meets law and Creative Commons
There’s a fascinating legal conflict brewing online that has really caught my attention. This story has everything: niche online communities, obscure horror fandom, internet drama, independen…
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Reposted by Stefano Maffulli
Grist @getgrist.com · 14/09/2026
Live webinar this Thursday: Building a complete app with Grist + MCP www.getgrist.com/webinars/building-…
getgrist.com
Building a complete app with Grist + MCP | Grist
This webinar shows how Grist’s MCP server can create a full-blown data application in a single session, and why AI workflows with Grist are secure and sustainable.
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 14/09/2026
I'm finding that the most convenient way to build custom applications is to build them on top of a solid framework. @getgrist.com offers exactly that: the app-serving platform so I don't need to setup and secure another server, the authZ/N and more. Follow @anaisconce.bsky.social webinar #MCP #AI
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 11/09/2026
A study of cybersecurity literature on open-source software and AI – GOV.UK www.gov.uk/government/publications/…
gov.uk
A study of cybersecurity literature on open-source software and AI
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 10/09/2026
Mautic is not begging or complaining about the sustainability of Open Source. www.maffulli.net/2026/07/23/mautic-… #mautic #OpenSource
maffulli.net
Mautic asks for money the smart way
Mautic, the popular Open Source marketing automation solution, is doing something smart: it’s putting up a tender to hosting providers who want to sell Mautic.…
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 09/09/2026
Meta Muse Glimmer’s license is Open Source www.maffulli.net/2026/08/11/meta-mu… #ai #llama #meta #OpenSource
maffulli.net
Meta Muse Glimmer’s license is Open Source
Finally, after having to correct Meta’s abuse of the Open Source Definition with their sneaky “Llama Community License Agreement”, they started using the OSI-approved Apache…
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 05/09/2026
Mautic asks for money the smart way www.maffulli.net/2026/07/23/mautic-… #mautic #OpenSource
maffulli.net
Mautic asks for money the smart way
Mautic, the popular Open Source marketing automation solution, is doing something smart: it’s putting up a tender to hosting providers who want to sell Mautic.…
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Reposted by Stefano Maffulli
Grist @getgrist.com · 04/09/2026
Sanguinetti could hand the system to a non-technical team member and expect them to add requirements, update test results, and trigger PDF generation without training.
getgrist.com
How Dotphoton built a fully traceable QA system for the European Space Agency| Grist
Dotphoton tried IBM Doors, Notion, and Word for a satellite project’s requirements traceability. Only two days after picking Grist, they had a working system.
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 02/09/2026
how low will it go to please the "Intellectual Property" overlords?
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Reposted by Stefano Maffulli
Grist @getgrist.com · 01/09/2026
This month's newsletter is out: MCP improvements, memory optimizations, integrations, and lots more. support.getgrist.com/newsletters/20…
August 2026 newsletter
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 01/09/2026
License plus disclosed documentation is the operative bar for Open Source AI, not data. www.maffulli.net/2026/08/25/the-lic… #ai #data #OpenSource
maffulli.net
The license is all you need (for Open Source AI)
Over two years of practice and recent policy decisions prove that the Open Source AI Definition v1.0 is valid. Now let’s focus on the other unresolved issues, like fairness.
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 01/09/2026
Thanks to @stokel.bsky.social at @fastcompany.com for the piece about the Nvidia-Hugging Face acquisition. The parallels to Microsoft/GitHub are real. What happens to openness when a dominant player takes control? fastcompany.co.za/fast-company... #AI #OpenSource
fastcompany.co.za
How Nvidia may reshape the AI ecosystem Hugging Face grab
Hugging Face has become the industry’s de facto hub for open models. Developers are watching what happens if the dominant AI chipmaker takes control.
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Reposted by Stefano Maffulli
Common Crawl Foundation @commoncrawl.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
We analyzed the contents of 584,107 llms.txt files from the July 2026 crawl. Two thirds are produced by a plugin, half follow the structure the specification defines, and a few files even contain prompt injections. commoncrawl.org/blog/a-conte...
commoncrawl.org
Common Crawl - Blog - A Content Analysis of llms.txt Files from the July 2026 Crawl Archive
We analyzed the contents of 584,107 llms.txt files from the July 2026 crawl. Two thirds are produced by a plugin, half follow the structure the specification defines, and a few files even contain prom...
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 31/08/2026
A conversation with @stokel.bsky.social at @fastcompany.com on platform neutrality in AI. Hugging Face works across AMD Intel AWS Google TPUs etc. What happens to that neutrality if it's acquired by Nvidia? My thoughts on why this matters for developers everywhere fastcompany.co.za/fast-company...
fastcompany.co.za
How Nvidia may reshape the AI ecosystem Hugging Face grab
Hugging Face has become the industry’s de facto hub for open models. Developers are watching what happens if the dominant AI chipmaker takes control.
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 31/08/2026
The decision by a majority of Debian developers confirms that it's a loud minority opposing AI-generated code contributions tout court. The voted resolution is quite reasonable: lwn.net/Articles/1091231 #ai #debian #OpenSource
lwn.net
Debian votes to allow ‘responsible use of generative AI’
The results of the Debian general-resolution vote on the use of large language models have been [...]
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 31/08/2026
Measured response from the majority of Debian developers. Good.
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 27/08/2026
The license is all you need (for Open Source AI) www.maffulli.net/2026/08/25/the-lic… #ai #data #OpenSource
maffulli.net
The license is all you need (for Open Source AI)
Over two years of practice and recent policy decisions prove that the Open Source AI Definition v1.0 is valid. Now let’s focus on the other unresolved issues, like fairness.
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 26/08/2026
Like many other LLMs, Meta adds a USAGE_POLICY that includes lots of hope: don’t do harm, obey the law, etc. What that policy is or does, I’m not sure. Lawyers? www.maffulli.net/2026/08/11/meta-mu… #ai #llama #meta #OpenSource
maffulli.net
Meta Muse Glimmer’s license is Open Source
Finally, after having to correct Meta’s abuse of the Open Source Definition with their sneaky “Llama Community License Agreement”, they started using the OSI-approved Apache…
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 26/08/2026
Let’s stop pretending this is still an open question. Training data provenance matters, and that’s not up for debate. But training data isn’t AI’s source code, and it was never going to be the policy’s lever. #ai #data #OpenSource
maffulli.net
The license is all you need (for Open Source AI)
Over two years of practice and recent policy decisions prove that the Open Source AI Definition v1.0 is valid. Now let’s focus on the other unresolved issues, like fairness.
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 26/08/2026
The Gap Map is a practical representation of AI openness produced at the Columbia Convening, and it still doesn’t back the purity position. www.maffulli.net/2026/08/25/the-lic… #ai #data #OpenSource
maffulli.net
The license is all you need (for Open Source AI)
Over two years of practice and recent policy decisions prove that the Open Source AI Definition v1.0 is valid. Now let’s focus on the other unresolved issues, like fairness.
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 25/08/2026
Regulators act on the AI model’s license first and the credibility of who built the thing second. www.maffulli.net/2026/08/25/the-lic… #ai #data #OpenSource
maffulli.net
The license is all you need (for Open Source AI)
Over two years of practice and recent policy decisions prove that the Open Source AI Definition v1.0 is valid. Now let’s focus on the other unresolved issues, like fairness.
020
Reposted by Stefano Maffulli
Grist @getgrist.com · 24/08/2026
Revisiting sessions from GristCon 2025 and sharing what's on our minds this year. www.getgrist.com/blog/a-year-of-gri…
getgrist.com
A year of Grist seen through GristCon 2025 highlights | Grist
GristCon 2026 approaches! Let’s take a look back at last year’s event and see what was ahead of the curve, what’s changed, and what’s to come.
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Reposted by Stefano Maffulli
Grist @getgrist.com · 20/08/2026
Grist is a governed, on-prem spreadsheet-database that feels like a spreadsheet and works like one. Avoid shadow IT with a platform everyone wants to use. www.getgrist.com/blog/why-can-grist…
getgrist.com
Why can Grist secure a spreadsheet when Excel can’t? | Grist
Why is it hard to secure an Excel spreadsheet? Because locking down a file that holds sensitive data doesn’t work. You need governed structure.
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 19/08/2026
 Do you think you can replace it with modern auth, a real DB, and a modern front end, done by AI?  You may end up exactly where you started: with a codebase no human can understand or commit to maintaining in the future. #NoCode #MSAccess
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 19/08/2026
"We should rebuild this properly." If you’ve heard this before, you know that means sweat, pain, and a large check. You have a clunky system built on ancient software, held together with pain by one person who knows what not to touch and has no docs. #NoCode #MSAccess
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 17/08/2026
I have always thought that the future of software is on infrastructure you control. I wrote down why, and what it looks like in Europe specifically, where this stopped being a preference and became a requirement to progress. www.getgrist.com/blog/the-sov...
getgrist.com
The sovereignty gap | Grist
What is sovereignty and why is it so important to the future of software? Grist Labs' CRO and open source veteran explains.
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 17/08/2026
But the illusion that cloud tools make us more agile is breaking. We’re waking up to the sovereignty gap: the growing distance between a company’s reliance on technology and its control over it.
getgrist.com
The sovereignty gap | Grist
What is sovereignty and why is it so important to the future of software? Grist Labs' CRO and open source veteran explains.
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 17/08/2026
The second is that it runs wherever necessary, including a local provider or a machine with no internet connection. The third is buing built on solid open source core because that guarantees longevity. Most tools manage none of the three. Some manage one and market it as all three.
getgrist.com
The sovereignty gap | Grist
What is sovereignty and why is it so important to the future of software? Grist Labs' CRO and open source veteran explains.
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Stefano Maffulli @maffulli.net · 17/08/2026
So, you can leave, in the sense that you can pack up your stuff and carry the boxes out. But you’ll have to build a new house. That is only one of three things I think a data platform needs if it wants to provide long-term value. #DigitalSovereignty #OpenSource
getgrist.com
The sovereignty gap | Grist
What is sovereignty and why is it so important to the future of software? Grist Labs' CRO and open source veteran explains.
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