The Power of Openness

Orca writes "Here is a really well written critique of the Open Source / Free Software movement. It talks about open source code from both a technical and a philosophical / social point of view and proposes the creation of H20, an 'independant not-profit organization to help foster the development and usage of the new software.' "

Comments

And now the fun begins

[Anonymous Coward]

Let me tell you another story. My sister is a political science graduate and did all of the necessary doctor work. One day me and her argued about the necessary change of humanity. I forget the point, but it was something about abusing nature. I agreed with her and said, what is the solution. She said do x y z, since it worked so well in that case. I looked at her and said, never in a million years. She argued that I was not even willing to try and comprehend. I responded the problem is not me, but the scale.

My point is that H20 is an example of what happens when something tries to play in the big leagues. GNU, OpenSource and all of these folks worked when it was a small focused group. Now that LINUX, GNU, etc is actually getting attention the entire thing is crumbling. People are yelling at each. The old timers are disgusted with what is happening. And RMS is here to save the world.

Folks OpenSource will only work to a degree. It was mentioned that with open source I can tinker and change my own carberator. Sure, but the reason why that economy works is because you had to pay for the carb!!! With open source you pay nothing.

The gift economy will never work because communism never worked. Do not mistake this with Russian or Chinese communism. In the communist manifesto, "People will give all they can and only take what they need". Sounds like the gift economy to me folks.

What is driving OpenSource is peoples hatred of Microsoft. Lets not forget about 10 years ago, people hated Microsoft because of their closed ways. Now the tables have turned.

Opensource will remain, but it will remain a niche. CNN just did an Insight edition on LINUX, the Microsoft alternative. Who did they interview? Mr Young from Redhat. What support of software did they mention for LINUX, ORACLE and Corel. Under the masses of people open source code and tinkering DOES NOT MATTER. Alternatives and competition do!

Christian Gross

Influence peddling

[scarl]

While the article was a well thought out and interesting look at Open Source/Free Software/et al, I can't help but get the Jonny-come-lately feeling about H2O. "Hi, we'd like to set up shop as your leaders and spiritual guidance counselors, which way to the podium?"

Not that I think the article is without merits. Oh no, it struck the head with the nail on many a point. The lack of future feature insight, our chaotic nature of development (benefits and penalties), the potential traps of "almost-open" licenses......none of which is exactly new news, but is here treated in a competent and clear cut overview.

Actually, of all of the ideas presented by this paper, only one really jumped out and grabbed me by the jugular. The creation of a repository for all once proprietary and now discarded software, which is growing almost as fast as the internet.

"Popular programs such as Sidekick, Xtree, EchoPro and soon, it is predicted, Eudora, are being thrown on the dustbin, forcing satisfied users to buy new software. H20 proposes becoming a standing repository for these programs by becoming the legal owner of the source code and, where possible, helping interested user groups to organize themselves to sustain legacy products."

Again, I think this is a great idea, and one that I feel could even be feasible(Hell, I'd LOVE to see this happening). However, to add this on top of the shaky pyramid of power that H2O is trying to build is overkill. "Not only do we want to influence you, but we want to posess all you used to hold near and dear." Say yes to legacy apps, but I'd have to say no to H2O.