Open source is at the heart of Google—it’s what we’re built on and at the core of everything we do.
The Google Open Source Programs Office dates back to 2004, making it one of the first OSPOs in the industry.

  • Making open source more open

    At first, OSPO focused on enabling Google to build on open source technologies and share Google-developed technology under open licenses. With the launch of Google Summer of Code in 2005, OSPO expanded to support open source mentorship and reduce barriers to open source participation. Today, OSPO runs multiple programs dedicated to improving the open source ecosystem as a whole, including the Season of Docs program, multiple efforts dedicated to improving open source security, respectful language guidance, code of conduct enforcement training, and more.

  • Sharing with the world

    A key part of OSPO's mission is helping Google-led projects thrive and grow. Some of Google’s most notable open source projects were released in 2008, including Android—providing an operating system for phones internationally, Chromium—which our Chrome browser runs on, and Go—an efficient programming language which we build on internally. Google partnered with the Linux Foundation to create the Cloud Native Computing Foundation in 2018, which now hosts major projects such as Kubernetes. In 2022, Google donated IstioMesh to the CNCF and applied for Kubeflow to become an incubating project as well.

  • Changing as open source changes

    Many things have changed in open source since Google’s OSPO began in 2004—but one thing that remains the same is Google’s commitment to supporting open source projects, communities, and maintainers across the entire open source ecosystem.

OSPO by the numbers

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