I'm Vlad, an independent researcher working on software and philosophy that contributes to the public good.

I have been a programmer for 19 years and I specialise in Open Source software, low-level programming, 3D graphics and web technologies.

I am also a PhD researcher in philosophy, generally moral philosophy and social epistemology, and specifically the ethics and epistemology of Open Source software.

Much of my current work revolves around safeguarding our global tech infrastructure by making the Open Source software ecosystem more financially sustainable and more secure.

I celebrate playful, patient, high-effort craftsmanship; and value collective governance over alienated wage labour. I think that being kind is important, and I love cats and birds. I live in Edinburgh, Scotland. More →

Happening Now

• I spoke at FOSDEM about how the invisible nature of binary dependencies threatens our global software infrastructure
• I wrote a technical report about how binary dependencies work
• The Open Source Pledge has raised $6,879,498 for Open Source maintainers
• We published the most comprehensive report on burnout in Open Source softwareto date
• I tried to go for a fullday without Open Source — and failed

Current Projects

• The Open Source Pledge
  Creating a new social norm of companies paying Open Source maintainers.
• The Open Source Endowment
  The first endowment aiming to solve the global Open Source sustainability crisis.
• thanks.dev
  Helping companies identify and pay the maintainers they depend on.
• clumsy computer
  Teaching others to appreciate programming things from scratch.
• 
  Peony Software
  Developing next-generation spreadsheet software.
• 
  The Hare programming language
  I wrote the regex implementation for this cosier alternative to C.
• The Peony Game Engine
  A 3D game engine built from complete scratch.

I'm currently a researcher at:

• 
  The University of Edinburgh
  Doing a philosophy PhD on the ethics and epistemology of Open Source software.
• The Ideology Research Group
  A group I co-organise dedicated to studying ideology broadly construted.
• 
  Low Carbon Software
  A not-quite-yet collective thinking about how to reduce carbon emissions caused by software.

I previously founded:

• Saffron
  A studio I spent 10 years running. We made software for places like the University of Oxford and the Gates Foundation.
• Submodule
  We made a Game Boy cartridge reader to preserve your childhood save files.

Otherwise, I sometimes attempt, with mixed success, to make music, take photos, and think about languages.