MANIFESTO · Open Dev Society · updated 10 Nov 20265 min read

Technology Should Belong to Everyone

Open Dev Society · github.com/Open-Dev-Society · opendevsociety@gmail.com

Written July 2024 · updated 10 Nov 2026

The short version

Knowledge is hidden behind paywalls. Tools are locked in subscriptions. Newcomers are told they're not good enough. We think there's a better way, and we're building it: 15 free, open-source projects so far, by 26 contributors. Below are the four principles we work by, what we build, the three promises we keep, and who owns the work.

1Why we exist

Founded July 2024. Everything we make lives at github.com/Open-Dev-Society. is a community that builds free software in public. What we believe is short: technology should belong to everyone. Not licensed to them, rented to them, or shown to them after a sign-up form, but theirs, to use, read, change and pass on.

The obstacles are familiar. Knowledge sits behind paywalls; tools sit behind subscriptions; the newcomer is asked for experience they could only have gained by being let in. As one reviewer of OpenStock put it, great tools “shouldn't hide behind logins or price tiers”. Our answer is not a policy but a practice: build the tools in the open, Free to use and free to fork. OpenStock, for one, is under the GNU AGPL v3.0, so a copy served to others must stay open too., and let anyone who shows up help.

Knowledge isn't just code: it's conversation, collaboration, and connection.
Ravi Pratap Singh, founder, 2024

2What we believe

We work by four principles. Each is one sentence, followed by how it shows up in practice.

Default to open. Every line of code and every decision is public.

In practice: All 15 projects are public repositories; the decisions happen in their issues and pull requests.

No permission needed. No interviews. Fork it and send the PR.

In practice: The whole onboarding is one page: fork, branch, There is no application form. Your first pull request is the application..

Ship, then improve. Release early and fix it in the open.

In practice: The last commit landed 2d ago, to OpenStock.

Lift each other. Everyone teaches, everyone learns.

In practice: Ask anything in the Discord; someone who learned it last month will answer.

3What we build

We work the way the pattern below grows: a few simple rules, followed by everyone, produce something nobody drew alone. For us that something is software. The table lists what we build; where a piece already ships, it links to the project. The rest is next.

(a) t = 600

(b) t = 2,200

One seed, one rule. The same pattern runs live at the top of the home page, seeded by the letters of its headline. grows from a single point (+, a first contribution). It's a reaction–diffusion pattern, first described by Alan Turing in 1952 (Gray–Scott model, f = 0.0545, k = 0.062), drawn 1-bit with an 8×8 dither. One simple rule, followed everywhere, fills the frame.

What we build, and where each part stands on 10 Nov 2026.

Area	Aim	Status
ToolsSimple utilities, free to use.	Simple utilities, free to use.	liveOpenStock openreadme all 15
LibraryA gateway to free books.	A gateway to free books.	livebooktrace
LearnRoadmaps and mentorship.	Roadmaps and mentorship.	planned
EducationFree courses and workshops.	Free courses and workshops.	planned
MediaPodcasts and tutorials.	Podcasts and tutorials.	planned
EventsHackathons and conferences.	Hackathons and conferences.	liveApretre 3.0, JWOC 2026
NewsInformation without an agenda.	Information without an agenda.	planned
CommunityA home for contributors.	A home for contributors.	live26 contributors

4The promise

Our principles can change as we learn. These three promises cannot.

(i)We will never lock knowledge.
(ii)We will never charge for access.
(iii)We will never trade trust for money.

We run on transparency, Our partners and what they support are listed on What people say. and community.

Ravi Pratap Singh

Ravi Pratap Singh · Founder · July 2024

Priyanshu Bhardwaj

Priyanshu Bhardwaj · Lead maintainer · July 2024

5Ownership

If we ask for your contributions, we owe you an answer to the obvious question: whose is the work? Bring your project and it stays yours: the credit, the decisions and the right to leave. We bring contributors, visibility and public review, and we never take the credit. Your project. Your vision. Our community. Three questions come up every time.

Can I show the project as my own work? Yes. You keep full credit. We support your growth, we don't claim it.

Do I lose ownership? No. ODS is a platform, not a company claiming your IP.

Can I take my project back? Any time. There's Every licence we use grants the right to fork. Leaving costs one git remote set-url..

Bring it to the Discord

Thanks

Thank you to Priyanshu Bhardwaj, our lead maintainer, who keeps the projects moving; to our maintainers Bipin kumar Madhur and Mahin Chauhan, who review every change; and to all 26 contributors who build this in public, one pull request at a time. None of it exists without you.