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- Tech layoffs continue. But everyone's at zero in the AI era.
Tech layoffs continue. But everyone's at zero in the AI era.
Welcome to edition #50 of the We ❤️ Open Source newsletter 🎁 — our golden edition, made with extra ❤️
This week Taylor Desseyn joins the podcast to explain why everyone from senior to junior developers is starting at zero right now and why AI amplifies engineers instead of replacing them. We're also exploring how LLMs eliminate DevOps toil, the leadership gap threatening open source projects, why GNOME Boxes might replace VirtualBox for your Linux VMs, and System76's compact Meerkat PC with surprising power for developers.
Made and curated by real humans.🙂 This week we'll look at...
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Articles
 | DevOps pros are invisible until something breaks, then everyone needs them immediately. Kedar Kulkarni shows how LLMs and AI agents eliminate the invisible toil: Parsing logs, outdated runbooks, tribal knowledge in Slack. Watch demos of kubectl AI and self-healing Kubernetes systems that keep humans in the loop. WHY WE ❤️ IT: We love the demos featured in this talk, which aren't easy to do but add a ton of value. Kedar does an excellent job. Kudos! |
 | When the same leaders hold the same positions year after year, contributors disengage and move on. Learn how sponsorship, rotating roles, and inclusive governance can grow your next generation of open source leaders, with practical insights from the CHAOSS community. WHY WE ❤️ IT: This article touches on a topic we've thought a lot about - the next generation of open source leaders. We love the final "What you can do right now" section also. Take action today! |
 | Ready to ditch VirtualBox? Learn Linux TV shows you how GNOME Boxes makes Linux virtualization simple and restriction-free. Create VMs in minutes, enable express installation, fix performance issues with 3D acceleration, and master features like snapshots and USB redirection without the licensing headaches. WHY WE ❤️ IT: This is a complete tour and tutorial of GNOME Boxes, as only Jay can do it. It's clear, instructive, and easy to understand. You'll come away with a better understanding, guaranteed. |
What's in your technology toolbox?
After years testing laptops, Intel NUCs, and MacBooks for the perfect Linux setup, Don came full circle back to System76. The Meerkat delivers what larger systems couldn't: Compact size, integrated GPU for AI tasks, and rock-solid Linux support. Sometimes the best solution is pint-sized.
From the We ❤️ Open Source Podcast
 | Headlines scream about tech layoffs, but beneath the surface AI-specific startups are thriving. Taylor Desseyn explains why AI amplifies engineers instead of replacing them, how teams shrink from 50 to 20, and why everyone from senior to junior developers is starting at zero right now. |
Wrap Up
If you've made it this far (thank you!), check out everything we do, our YouTube channel with 1000's of open source talks, the many meetups we host around the southeast and NYC, the All Things AI spring event we co-host, and of course All Things Open, the largest open source tech conference on the US east coast.
We hope you learn something new this weekend!
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