And the winner of the ‘latest member of the Academy Software Foundation’ award goes to …Canonical!
Yes, Ubuntu’s big-money backer has announced it is joining the Academy Software Foundation (ASWF), an association setup to promote, advance and advocate the use of open-source software and libre technologies within the media and entertainment industries.
The group, as we reported back 2018, was borne out of the fact that 84% of filmmakers use open source software at various stages of production, most notably in visual effects and animation. A non-profit, the foundation is supported by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, who are best known for handing out Oscars.
“The Academy Software Foundation is a group where competition is put aside and collaboration is encouraged to improve the software experience for all, embodying the collaborative spirit of open source,” Erick Bryant, Media and Entertainment Lead at Canonical says of the news.
Canonical joins a veritable A-list of existing members, which includes major tech companies like Adobe, Autodesk, and Unreal Engine, through to leading media-makers like Disney, Netflix, and Dreamworks.
Think Canonical’s role within this cast of media titans is miscast? Not really: Canonical provides services and products within the open-source community that help power or provide many of the core technologies on which the creative industries rely.
“We want to be able to collaborate with the industry’s pioneers, developers, and artists to make open source solutions a first class experience for digital media and entertainment, and to remove technical barriers to adoption,” Bryant adds.
If anything, this is a role it was born to play.