Why Amnesty International Spain Wants Control of Its Own Technology
For Amnesty International Spain, digital sovereignty isn’t simply about procurement, compliance or where your servers happen to be. It’s about being able to keep working — whatever happens.
In this episode of Open Matters, Richard Brock speaks with Carlos Lopez Belenguer, IT Manager for Infrastructure at Amnesty International Spain, about why the organisation has spent more than a decade pursuing technological independence.
Carlos explains how Amnesty International Spain combines self-hosted infrastructure, open-source software and online services to support staff and thousands of activists — and why retaining control of its data and tools matters so much to an organisation that regularly challenges governments, companies and other powerful institutions.
We discuss what digital sovereignty actually means in practice; why open formats, portability and an exit plan matter; Amnesty International Spain’s long history with Collabora Online; and why organisations should still pay for professional support even when the software itself is open source. Carlos also shares what happened when one open-source supplier increased its price fivefold — and why being able to keep running the software gave Amnesty time to find an alternative.
🔔 Subscribe for more discussions on open-source tech!
iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/open-matters-podcast/id1807042369 (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/open-matters-podcast/id1807042369)
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4frqRzV9DsAC0HfJ3ewaeD (https://open.spotify.com/show/4frqRzV9DsAC0HfJ3ewaeD)
RSS: https://www.collaboraonline.com/feed/mp3/ (https://www.collaboraonline.com/feed/mp3/)
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of Collabora Productivity or its affiliates. The content is provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered official guidance or fact-checked technical documentation.
00:00 Why digital independence matters
01:03 Inside Amnesty International Spain’s IT
04:44 Why self-hosting matters
05:35 When powerful people want you quiet
07:14 Open source as a route to independence
09:08 Eight years with Collabora Online
13:57 What digital sovereignty really means
16:04 Why pay for open-source software?
19:06 When the price jumps 5×
22:08 The price of cloud convenience
25:12 How to take back control
23 Jun 2026
How Do You Build a Business Around Open Source?
What happens when you set off to build a sustainable business around open source software?
In this episode of Open Matters, Richard Brock speaks with Lucie Lesage from Jeci, the French company behind the open-source document management platform Pristy.
Lucie explains how Jeci grew from one developer providing Alfresco services into a team building its own open-source product. We discuss finding the first customers, selling software before every feature was finished, setting prices, earning trust, and learning to let other developers contribute to something that began as one person’s code.
We also explore why Jeci chose Collabora Online for document editing, how open source gives customers confidence that their software can continue even if a supplier disappears, and why “free software” does not mean software that costs nothing.
Topics include:
• Growing from services into a product company
• Winning and supporting the first customers
• Pricing open-source software
• Building Pristy on top of Alfresco
• Why Jeci chose Collabora Online
• Free as in freedom—not free of cost
• Open-source and French-first business principles
• Pristy Marchés and future product plans
🔔 Subscribe for more discussions on open-source tech!
iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/open-matters-podcast/id1807042369 (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/open-matters-podcast/id1807042369)
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4frqRzV9DsAC0HfJ3ewaeD (https://open.spotify.com/show/4frqRzV9DsAC0HfJ3ewaeD)
RSS: https://www.collaboraonline.com/feed/mp3/ (https://www.collaboraonline.com/feed/mp3/)
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of Collabora Productivity or its affiliates. The content is provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered official guidance or fact-checked technical documentation.
00:00 Intro
01:01 How did you first get into OSS?
01:53 How did that shape how you think about software today?
02:28 What is Jeci?
03:03 This wasn’t the original direction?
04:14 Are you a product or services company?
04:57 What was difficult about the early days?
05:28 What drove the change?
06:03 What was COVID like?
07:28 Is that when you discovered Collabora Online?
08:19 Did you consider alternatives?
09:12 Transitioning from a single developer to a team
10:09 How did you pitch the new idea?
12:11 Pricing difficulties
13:30 How to find customers?
15:35 How are things growing now?!
17:05 Free vs. freedom
20:16 Changes to Alfresco and Nuxeo
21:46 Lucie’s experience leading marketing
26:26 Is everything on-premise at Jeci?
27:23 Future plans!
12 May 2026
How Events Help Build Open Source Communities
Open source doesn’t grow through code alone — it also grows through communities. And communities are built when people meet, share ideas, and sometimes argue over coffee in conference hallways.
In this episode of Open Matters, Richard Brock speaks with Eirini Athanasopoulou from Nextcloud about the human side of open source: events, community, storytelling, and what it takes to bring distributed people together in real life.
Eirini shares her journey from literature and TEDx in Greece to organising international events at Nextcloud, including Enterprise Days, the Nextcloud Summit, and the Community Conference. We talk about why in-person events still matter, how open-source events differ from generic tech conferences, and why event management is “project management with a little bit of fun and magic.”
And yes — there is also a pizza disaster story.
🔔 Subscribe for more discussions on open-source tech!
iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/open-matters-podcast/id1807042369 (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/open-matters-podcast/id1807042369)
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4frqRzV9DsAC0HfJ3ewaeD (https://open.spotify.com/show/4frqRzV9DsAC0HfJ3ewaeD)
RSS: https://www.collaboraonline.com/feed/mp3/ (https://www.collaboraonline.com/feed/mp3/)
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of Collabora Productivity or its affiliates. The content is provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered official guidance or fact-checked technical documentation.
00:00 Intro
03:48 From Greece to Berlin
04:39 From volunteering to work
06:18 What are the different Nextcloud events?
09:02 What about hybrid/online events?
10:25 What are the numbers?
13:40 Why should we come?
15:27 Any amusing stories?
16:58 What keeps you awake before an event?
19:17 What does Richard enjoy about events?
21:28 How do you measure success?
6 Apr 2026
Germany's Digital Experiment - Can Governments Build Their Own Tech Stack?
Germany isn’t just talking about digital sovereignty — it’s building it.
🇩🇪 80,000+ users pilot scheme
🧩 8 vendors, one platform
🚀 Federal rollout coming in 2027
Inside ZenDiS and openDesk — and what it really takes to assemble a sovereign digital workplace with open source.
In this episode, Richard Brock is joined by Victor Moster (ZenDiS) and Thorsten Behrens (Collabora Productivity).
🔔 Subscribe for more discussions on open-source tech!
iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/open-matters-podcast/id1807042369 (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/open-matters-podcast/id1807042369)
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4frqRzV9DsAC0HfJ3ewaeD (https://open.spotify.com/show/4frqRzV9DsAC0HfJ3ewaeD)
RSS: https://www.collaboraonline.com/feed/mp3/ (https://www.collaboraonline.com/feed/mp3/)
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of Collabora Productivity or its affiliates. The content is provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered official guidance or fact-checked technical documentation.
6 Mar 2026
Customers Deserve a Choice: Cloud or On-Prem
In this episode of Open Matters, Richard Brock speaks with Johan Bernhardsson from Redpill Linpro, one of the Nordic region’s leading open-source consultancies. Johan shares what real-world migrations look like: from replacing aging NAS drives with Nextcloud to building GDPR-sensitive collaboration platforms, and helping organizations move at their own pace.
We discuss:
-Why “cloud-first” often means “no real choice”
-How open-source migrations actually begin
-Why user experience matters more than features
-The growing demand for on-prem and sovereign deployments
-And why digital change is still slow — but accelerating
If digital sovereignty is more than a slogan, this is what it looks like on the ground.
🔔 Subscribe for more discussions on open-source tech!
iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/open-matters-podcast/id1807042369 (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/open-matters-podcast/id1807042369)
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4frqRzV9DsAC0HfJ3ewaeD (https://open.spotify.com/show/4frqRzV9DsAC0HfJ3ewaeD)
RSS: https://www.collaboraonline.com/feed/mp3/ (https://www.collaboraonline.com/feed/mp3/)
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of Collabora Productivity or its affiliates. The content is provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered official guidance or fact-checked technical documentation.
2 Feb 2026
"If It Has a CPU, We Can Run It" - How Collabora Online Escaped the Browser
In this episode of Open Matters, Richard Brock speaks with Thorsten Behrens, Tor Lillqvist & Jan Holesovsky – the three principal engineers behind the new Collabora Office release, about what it really means to move a complex application from the browser to the desktop.
They explain how Collabora Online has been transformed into a native desktop app that runs entirely locally while preserving the same user interface and architecture, and why this approach is fundamentally different from simply wrapping a web app. The conversation explores the technical and conceptual challenges of cross-platform software, the limitations of browser environments, lessons learned from earlier mobile ports, and the importance of reusing a shared core across web, desktop, and mobile.
Along the way, the engineers reflect on portability, performance, security, and developer experience, revealing why building truly cross-platform software in many cases is difficult – and how they succeeded.
Subscribe for more discussions on open-source tech!
iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/open-matters-podcast/id1807042369
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4frqRzV9DsAC0HfJ3ewaeD
RSS: https://www.collaboraonline.com/feed/mp3/
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of Collabora Productivity or its affiliates. The content is provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered official guidance or fact-checked technical documentation.
The post “If It Has a CPU, We Can Run It” – How Collabora Online Escaped the Browser (https://new.collaboraoffice.com/blog/openmatters011/) appeared first on Collabora Online and Collabora Office (https://new.collaboraoffice.com).
5 Jan 2026
8.5% of Americans Self-Host — The Numbers (and Risks) We Didn’t Have Before
This episode analyzes new data revealing that 8.5% of Americans self-host their data, highlighting the potential risks involved.
1 Dec 2025
Open Source for Citizens: Denmark’s Bold Experiment
Morten Kjærsgaard, Magenta CEO, details Denmark's open-source adoption phases and European collaboration to create independent public-sector technology, in this interview episode.
3 Nov 2025
Why Pay for 'Free' Software?
This episode explores the hidden costs and trade-offs associated with using seemingly free software.
3 Oct 2025
Why The Netherlands are Leading the Open Source Movement
Industry experts explore why the Netherlands spearheads the open source movement, revealing key factors driving their success in collaborative technology.
29 Aug 2025
Print Media vs. Open Source: Lessons in Survival and Sustainability
Host Alex Thompson interviews industry expert Dr. Sarah Chen about print media's survival strategies and open source sustainability.
31 Jul 2025
Digital Sovereignty or Digital Colony? A Wake-Up Call for Europe
Industry experts examine Europe's critical need to establish digital sovereignty and avoid becoming a digital colony, emphasizing the importance of technological independence.
7 Jul 2025
What Makes Software Sovereign? (Hint: It's Not Where It's Made)
This episode explores software sovereignty and its defining characteristics, revealing that its origin is not the most important factor.
2 Jun 2025
Containers Explained: How Modern Software Sails!
This episode explains how containerization streamlines modern software deployment, offering insights into its efficiency and scalability.
5 May 2025
Cut Copy Chaos?
Think copy and paste is simple? Think again. In this episode of Open Matters, we're joined by Miklos Vajna—open-source veteran and Collabora Online engineer—to uncover the messy, fascinating world of clipboard behaviour in and out of browsers. From browser quirks to surprising security concerns, and why pasting from Google Sheets used to break your spreadsheets, we dive into what it takes to make Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V just work.
If you’ve ever copied a password, a table, or an emoji—this episode is for you.
4 Apr 2025
What is a Document?
From .TXT to .DOCX, we explore the evolution of digital documents and why open standards matter.
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Apple Podcasts (US)
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1 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
1 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 24 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
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YouTube
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