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Unusual Open Source
Dumitru Erhan writes "The Economist has a special report on open-source. It analyzes the way open-source projects succeed and finds that a rigid, business-like organizational structure is of vital importance to the quality of the final product. It cites Firefox, MySQL and (more recently) Wikipedia as examples of projects that do not simply allow anarchy to rein in, but which have 'real checks and balances, and real leadership taking place'. There is also a discussion of open-source methods being applied to non-software projects." From the article: "Constant self-policing is required to ensure its quality. This lesson was brought home to Wikipedia last December, after a former American newspaper editor lambasted it for an entry about himself that had been written by a prankster. His denunciations spoke for many, who question how something built by the wisdom of crowds can become anything other than mob rule."
Does this mean that my YAMP3P(Yet Another MP3 Player, clever eh? Although I would have preferred it to be recursive like GNU) project isn't going to r0xx0r the world? Say it ain't so. Tell me that I don't have to organize a company like NullSoft and list specifications and the have clear deadlines and objectives for developers. Tell me that me and the rabble will kick MP3 ass.