What Open Source Shares With Science

An anonymous reader sends in a philosophical piece at ZDNet about the similarities between open source development and the scientific method. Here's an excerpt: "The speed of progress is greatly enhanced by virtue of the fact the practitioners of Science publish not only results, but methodology, and techniques. In programmatic terms, this is equivalent to both the binary and the source code. This not only helps 'bootstrap' others into the field, to learn from the examples set, but makes it possible for others to verify or refute the results (or techniques) under investigation. In an almost guided-Darwinian evolutionary fashion, this makes the scientific process a powerful tool for the highlighting, analysis and possible culling of ideas and concepts; less useful ideas and hypothesEs die, and likely contenders come sharply into focus. Newton made his famous comment about 'standing on the shoulders of giants,' in part, to indicate that his contributions to human knowledge could not have been achieved solely. He needed the 'firmament' beneath him hypothesized, tested and confirmed by generations of scientists, philosophers and thinkers before him, over centuries."

Comments

So that would make

[Paaskonijn]

proprietary software the equivalent of intelligent design?

That doesn't quite sound right to me...

What open source shared with chocolate

[anyaristow]

Open source is like a box of chocolates. I'm not sure why...I just wanted to say that. It's what I thought of when I read the story.

Verily and forsooth

[Runaway1956]

This article should be covered up, cast out, smothered, and wiped off the face of the intartubes. Somewhere in the Book of Gates, it must surely be written that Open Source is the work of the Devils, and that all who are contaminated by such heresy shall surely be cast into the lake of BSOD.

All who seek after the ways of wisdom are surely aware that both science and programming are best accomplished in secretive enclaves, and pursued by the holy clerics of Corporate America. Surely, in the pursuit of wisdom, lesser beings shall be confused and damned by their communistic, socialistic methods. No good can come of the curiosity of the little man.

Keep the science in the cathedrals, and keep the coding in Microsoft labs.

Thus speaketh the Gates.

All hail the great EULA!!