Open Source: Advancing Our Digital Commons A Q&A with Jack Suess Few people think “open source” as we utilize today’s advanced software application. However in reality, the majority of that software application is really based on open source. IT leaders are recognizing the advantages of going back to open techniques and are checking out options to do that. To get some point of views from a seasoned IT leader in this area, CT asked Jack Suess, VP of IT and CIO at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)– whose career course has wound its way through the lots of phases of open source– for his views on going back to the digital commons of open source. 
< img src ="https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ad?iu=/5978/eof.cam&t=item%253d62b4682e_2633_4322_9366_b536209a410f%26pos%253dbox_c1%26Topic%253dQ_and_A%252cFeatures_and_Cover_Stories%252cCentral_IT%252cIT_Leadership%252cOpen_Source%252cARTICLE_TYPE%252cAUDIENCE&sz=300x250|640x481 & tile = 4 & c = 123456789"alt =""/ > The return to open source controls the conference buzz throughout a workshop hosted by Ithaka S+R and Apereo in 2025, as participants take on the tough discussion topic of “Sustainability in Open Science and Research Study”. (Photo by Patrick Masson, courtesy Apereo. With approval.)
Mary Grush: How has your profession included you in open source?
Jack Suess: My first work with open source dates back to the mid-to-late ’80s. At that time, I was the main system administrator at UMBC. I was running a VMS cluster and a Unix environment.
To us, the world was wrapped around having the ability to take advantage of software application that was being developed at universities, or nationwide labs, or other research centers recognized for open source software. The way we got our os, at least in the Unix world, was by downloading them from FTP sites so we might set up the open source software application in your area. And so, a lot of our environments were running the Berkeley system circulation in Unix.
Right after that mid-’80s timeframe, MIT was launching the Kerberos package. And Carnegie Mellon was releasing the Andrew File System (AFS) and Andrew system. All of this fascinating advancement was taking place within the higher education neighborhood that I matured in expertly. Both AFS and Kerberos are still in use today at UMBC.
I didn’t call myself a developer. I have a math and computer technology background, though I never got deeply involved in development work. However I installed and supported all this open source software and made certain it worked for faculty and trainees.
So, that was how I first came to experience open source. Then gradually, as I got more involved in other type of tasks in college, I began to see an entire series of settings where the world was being run by open source. A good example would be the early cybersecurity tools– they were frequently open source and had been developed and constructed out through many of the Unix systems environments.
And mid-career, as I got involved in the identity management neighborhood, I discovered that a lot of the work that Internet2 and different groups were making with SAML, or with middleware, was launched into the open source community– and picked up not simply at universities in the U.S., but all around the world. I had the ability to view varied communities develop in open source.