Jos Poortvliet

Co-founder and VP Comms & product strategy at Nextcloud, the open source, privacy-focused collaboration software company. Long time open source contributor, technology enthusiast and all-things-open evangelist. Previously community manager at SUSE & recovering business consultant from government, finance and telecom companies in the Netherlands.

Based in Berlin and loves cooking for friends, family and colleagues. Nurturing a boot 🥾 and hat 🎩 obsession. Supports 🏳️‍🌈

Website: http://www.jospoortvliet.com
Blog: http://blog.jospoortvliet.com

Last Notes

2026-06-04 13:24:48 GMT

On a different note - I ranted about the Tech Sovereignty package yesterday. Well, it motivated me to dust off my personal blog (last post: 2020!) and migrate away from Blogspot. And write a 1700 word analysis of the commission's proposal. Enjoy...
https://jospoortvliet.com/blog/the_tech_sovereignty_packacke_encourages_and_disappoints/
#Techsovereignty
#CADA
#ChipsAct2
#DigitalSovereignty
#OpenSource

2026-05-22 06:57:48 GMT

“What these Silicon Valley companies are doing - the STASI pale in comparison”
We got to protect our #privacy because an authoritarian train is coming and I’m not at all sure we are ready for it.
https://youtu.be/gXMx_vOfw0k?is=MKrq1o3LvAdvje-E

2026-03-24 07:51:53 GMT

#nextcloud enterprise event in #Vienna #austria has an incredible view of the Viennese skyline.
Still I’m sure the speakers today will be even more interesting.
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/116/283/046/001/773/173/original/08891f6d268a0ada.png

2026-02-25 22:58:17 GMT

One of worlds' shittiest companies, Palantir, is going after the press in Switzerland for exposing the nasty behavior of the US firm. In the US, any friend of Trump can get away with anything. Let's make sure they don't, over here?
Share & tell any politician there is simply no excuse for ANY EU organization for using Palantir's spyware. This firm should be banned from any public procurement, together with all the other US big tech monopolist spy companies.
https://www.republik.ch/2026/02/14/palantir-klagt-gegen-die-republik

2026-02-16 18:31:51 GMT

Reminder for the #Nextcloud release parties coming Wednesday in #Berlin and #Stuttgart!
and if you (want to) organize one - share it on the forums!
https://help.nextcloud.com/c/events/25

2026-01-26 09:30:28 GMT

Contributions of governments to #OpenSource are often unsustainable - fragmented, short term subsidies, feature work or new things. Nothing shifting billions of tax money from Big Tech to open source!
The public sector should work with existing communities that have managed a sustainable financial model. Commit to deploy these & shift real procurement money!
Debate me at #FOSDEM - between 12:55 and 13:40 on tis. Get involved!
https://fosdem.org/2026/schedule/track/collaboration-and-content-management/

2025-11-19 08:18:27 GMT

Soooo if you're in NL, I'll be at the #Nextcloud Enterprise Day in The Hague coming Tuesday, talking about the move of an Austrian ministry to Nextcloud as well as what Nextcloud Talk can do for you. And, of course, to meet, greet, and answer questions!
We have nearly 350 registrations up but I believe we still have space 😅
https://nextcloud.com/enterprise-day-the-hague-2025/
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/115/575/375/013/083/133/original/45d6d587952b127c.png

2025-09-15 10:25:37 GMT

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gitlab has no federation from what I can tell: https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/16514 and https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/260
If that is a hard requirement your choice is simple. Forgejo supports federation since well over a year and while there are open feature ideas it’s quite different from gitlab that doesn’t have it roadmapped. Open features: https://codeberg.org/forgejo/forgejo/issues?q=Federation&type=all&sort=&state=open&labels=79349&milestone=0&project=0&assignee=0&poster=0&archived=false

2025-09-11 11:57:22 GMT

You know that Windows 10 is end of life soon? If you are still stuck with a Windows 10 laptop, you can upgrade it to Linux! I'm joining a wonderful team at #KDE #AKADEMY to help you in a #EndOf10 installation party. Bring your laptop, we do the rest!
Not in #Berlin today? Good news - there are other events all over the world!
https://endof10.org/events/

2025-09-02 18:25:48 GMT

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Oversight, judicial or by press, falls away if we don’t stop this.
The EC should use proper tools that comply with archiving legislation, keeping data secure but reviewable.
And yes, Signal is great for #privacy and should be used by citizens, non-profits, and press, to fight #censorship and #surveillance. Not by government, aiming to evade legitimate #oversight

2025-09-02 18:25:20 GMT

I find it deeply troubling that the @npub1m96…ag4y is using #Signal to communicate. End-to-end #e2ee encryption and disappearing messages have no place in public administration. Society has a right to #transparency from the people who work for them. We pay their salaries and we deserve to know what they do with the power we give them.
The worst part: While they hide THEIR communications they want to enforce #ChatControl to break OUR #privacy
https://www.ftm.eu/articles/von-der-leyen-puts-signal-messages-autodelete

2025-08-17 13:06:21 GMT

Saw a Dutch TV item about the concept of "enshittification" from @npub1fdr…lvhs - it is translated quite well.
Triggered me to think of an interesting article by @npub1adx…2pu9 (on his substack) where he generalized the concept to all business. He does disagree with Cory that enshitification ends with death - pointing to Facebook as example.
I think he's right about this being a general problem and his article is worth a read: https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-general-theory-of-enshittification
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/115/044/250/205/753/714/original/062f0c149f4e0a8d.jpeg

2025-06-14 08:08:05 GMT

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sorry, didnt mean you, you are def right. But the congressman’s post…

2025-06-14 07:20:19 GMT

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is this not sarcasm? I mean… you can’t be seriously posting this…

2025-05-14 10:21:03 GMT

Did you know #Microsoft is shutting down Chinese universities by blocking access to their services? When will this come to Europe and the rest of the world? How dependent on Microsoft or Google is the day to day work in your organization?
Here's an example, one of many: https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3305889/microsoft-abruptly-cuts-services-chinese-university-genomics-firm

2025-04-14 07:51:41 GMT

Daniel Stenberg, Curl maintainer in his keynote at #FOSS-north, talking about the lack of knowledge of OSS among politicians:
“If you don’t know what world is built on, how can you make good decisions? And the tech world is built on open source”

2025-03-07 11:36:44 GMT

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A blog definitely carries less weight than a book or newspaper. I do think Chris is on the right track there, it's a historic thing. Was also the case when the printing press was invented - for a while, anything written carried a ton of weight and it resulted in quite some wars, until we had re-adjusted to the new reality. The internet, and now AI, require new re-adjustments...

2025-03-07 11:34:06 GMT

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haha
wise words Bert. I like your quote of Wirth, "To some, complexity equals power". This is true in writing, too - people like to say 'leverage' instead of 'use', 'enhance' instead of 'improve' because it's fancy. But complex and obscure is worse, not better.