Open Source Methods Useful Way Beyond Software

Tom Steinberg writes "Former head of policy at the British Prime Minister's office, Geoff Mulgan, has co-authored a paper on uses of Open Source methods in arenas far beyond the normal Sourceforge universe. The paper is jointly written with Tom Steinberg, head of UK civic hacking fraternity mySociety and explores the use of open source methods to improve academic peer review, drafting of legislation and even media regulation."

Comments

yep..

[Anonymous Coward]

I am thinking about open sourcing my sex life.

Re:yep..

[Ignignot]

You better hope no one installs any trojans through your back door...

Re:yep..

[Arctic Dragon]

You want to give people a hand?

Re:yep..

[VikingBerserker]

Don't assume that open-sourcing will instantly solve all your incompatability issues.

Re:yep..

[Gillious]

So long as your source don't get forked..

Re:yep..

[ubuntu]

Open-sourcing your sex life may or may not not be the best route for you. Let me explain some of your different licensing options, since I've already been down this road and have learned a lot of painful lessons.

If you open-source your sex life, you won't likely increase your userbase as much as you'd think. You can expect at best 1-2% of the total users (much like "laissez-faire" Linux, hot, sexy, and openly available as it may be). Haggard old Windows (technically under a much stricter one-user "monogamous" license), on the other hand, has 90% of the mindshare. There's a lot more hot coeds interested in investing their time into a long-term legal, registered copy of Windows than Linux, if you know what I mean. Women feel comforted by the strict EULA "vows" that you take when you click "I DO" during the install. If you opt for a proprietary, single-user sex life license, you can be sure of a certain level of solid usage, but unlike Linux, there is really no thrill or excitement involved. The Windows GUI gets tired and stale very quickly, is generally considered "crippleware" and won't do a lot of the naughty things Linux does for you without paying dearly for the extra functionality, and is prone to "bloat" -- Windows seems to double in size every few years. HOWEVER -- the secret of Windows happiness for you, my friend, is that cheap and dirty copies of Windows are easily "acquired" when nobody's looking, and most people have either considered going for a quickie download or are running an illicit second copy somewhere besides their main computer right now. I have a legal copy of Win98 running, but I UPGRADED to a secret install of 2000 on the side, and it's a lot smoother running... unfortunately, no OS ever went down as frequently as my original Win98 did, except when I experimented with Amiga in college.

The main problems with running an illicit copy of Windows are that

a)you KNOW that a lot of other people are enjoying the same copy that you are at the same time as you, and

b) Windows will definitely lead you to viruses, bugs of all sorts that are hard to get rid of, and in the end, ultimate disappointment and regret.

What I'm saying is you don't have to announce you're open to actually BE open. And if you're married, you should DEFINITELY tell your wife that you fully respect her Intellectual Property rights, onerous and burdensome as they may be, and that you respect her patent monopoly despite the fact that she never seems to use it. If you mess with your wife (the legal owner), you will end up in a place worse than death -- alone and settling for the most pathetic OS of all -- Windows "ME".

Finally it will be time

[tezza]

To fork the government.

Re:Finally it will be time

[youngerpants]

it certainly makes a change from the government forking us

...UK civic hacking fraternity...

[Anonymous Coward]

...UK civic hacking fraternity...
Can anyone say Lambda Lambda Lambda?

heh

[Anonymous Coward]

i can see it now in a few years

press release:
labour government heralds a new era of common sense

fork

[ajrs]

the word is fork.

20 days late

[lamz]

So, a document about Open Sourcing society is only available as a PDF and must be purchased. Did someone miss posting this last April 1st?

Don't do it!

[johannesg]

There are already too many "nice plan, shame nothing ever happens" type projects on sourceforge...

Re:In a democracy/republic

[Cyno]

Yeah, but at this current rate of progress we'll patch as security holes and known bugs by sometime around 2370.