The year we slow down to build better

Welcome to 2026. Turns out chabbis mein duniya isn't, after all, khatam.

Januarys are always a fun conflict, the energies of a new year and a fresh slate to do things, coupled with a touch of post-holiday blues. We at FOSS United are nevertheless back with new ideas, renewed momentum, and some room for the January blues.

Here's what's opening up, what to watch out for, and where you can get involved right now.

Highlights from FOSS United

• FOSSHack 2026 Registration open!

  FOSSHack is back, and this year, we're doubling down on what actually works. Instead of a rushed weekend sprint, FOSSHack 2026 runs through March as a month-long, hybrid hackathon. Registrations are open!

  FOSSHack 2026

  …this is your moment to get in early.

• Forklore Chronicles: Stories from the Source

  Here's what we covered last month, stories from the trenches, maintainers to know, projects to save

  • Rethink DNS and Mohammed Hussain
  • Rethink DNS and Murtaza Aliakbar
  • Poorna and Mujeeb Rahman K
  • Twig and Shubham Kumar

  Get the project breakdown, contribution guides, and their FOSS villain origin story, because every maintainer has that moment when everything changed. Read the drama at forklore.in! Got a maintainer ready to spill? Add to the lore!

• New year, new grants page, same question: what FOSS are you building?

  The Grants homepage got a proper overhaul; it's clean and easier to navigate. With over ₹3 crores disbursed to date, everything from new programming languages to FOSS mirrors to developer tools. If your New Year's resolution involved building something or if you've been sitting on an idea waiting for the "right time", bad news, there's no right time. Good news, there's funding. Apply here.

• Blender but in Kannada??

  Two 14-year-olds, Advay and Aarav, are building a complete Blender tutorial series in Kannada because, apparently, they got tired of waiting for adults to do it. Six episodes covering modelling basics. Episode 1 and Episode 2 are already up, and they're better than half the English tutorials out there. Gen Alpha is building while we're still arguing about frameworks. If you know someone learning Blender, send this their way. Full details here. Oh, and among others, the project is supporting by FU Grants :)

January is a moment to start: The FOSS ecosystem needs builders, not just watchers. Projects need maintainers. Communities need contributors. The question is: what are you going to ship this year?

Thanks for being with us through the holidays. See you next month.

Have thoughts on the newsletter? Reach out to us at team@fossunited.org

FOSS United. Strengthening the Indian FOSS ecosystem.

"May the FOSS be with you" 🚀