The key word in open source software is “open”–the beauty of software is that it has no borders, sexuality or ethnicity. It’s there for all of us. That is its core strength, and the fuel that powers millions of jobs for people in countries across the world.
We may only be 120 people, but we hail from 20 countries. It is thrilling to have attracted some of the brightest people around the world to work with us at Lightbend, join our Reactive Summit and Scala Days conferences, and facilitate communities across borders, time zones and languages.
Recent executive orders emanating from the White House affect not only our employees and their families, but our entire ecosystem of customers and community members. It is our nature to oppose any action to ban people of a particular faith or creed, or identity, sexuality or ethnicity, from entering the USA.
So we are taking this time to reiterate what has been a clear, core value to Lightbend from the beginning: we are committed to empowering an inclusive and diverse culture for our employees, customers and community members.
This isn’t simply our belief. History has proven time and time again that diversity and inclusion ignite the engines of innovation, sparking new ideas and new ways of working together. It is precisely why open source software has become the de facto standard in modern enterprises. So, in this spirit, Lightbend will take specific actions to influence policy by financially supporting organizations that seek to block dangerous measures like those the current White House is proposing.
It is in our DNA to encourage the free movement of people and ideas that have made our industry and our company strong, and something that politics should not, and will never, change for Lightbend. If you feel like to connecting with me personally, I'm available at mark.brewer@lightbend.com or @mabrewer7 on Twitter.
