I strongly agree that a more capitalist-inclined incentive structure is needed, given the realities of Now. That means that for massive, collaborative efforts to really mature, capital in the form of monetary compensation and benefits must be amassed and distributed on a per-role basis.
I do believe we're starting to see open source pose serious threats to these powerhouses you mention but, yes, the most successful of these are in fact strengthened by financial incentive (borne of self-interest) -- be it IBM contributing salaried developers to Linux development, or Mozilla able to employ core developers by way of startup funds from Netscape and corporate contributions, or Google hiring Firefox developers and allowing them to continue their work there.
Self-interest is as good of a motivator as any -- open source exists because enough people believe the given product represents significant value to them, and they have the means by which to make it happen together. But the corporate world is far more attractive for self-interest reasons as well -- hell, I'd love to get free massages and lunch in Mountain View, CA.
If anything, the current state of open source demonstrates the Power of Us. As our ability to collaborate en masse matures, it represents new possibilities for every tenet of life, right down to the economic systems that power our productivity.
So while I believe we must marry the ideology behind open source with real incentives for today, I do not rule out the nature of these incentives being radically different for tomorrow.
I was waiting for someone to bring up micropayments, because it is, in my humble opinion, exactly the point here. The future of the way mankind connects and collaborates increasingly looks like it will be powered by Google, and that future will allow use of a feature-rich, web-based digital panel (their Fusion strategy is this in its infant stage) including office applications, satellite/maps, e-mail, social network utilities, and of course the ability to search a by-then massive world of structured and meaningful information.
And as you use the system, a few cents get deducted from your Wallet here and there.:)
Did I mention Google will shift much of its back-end server architecture to P2P, to the people, thus really giving new meaning to their "do no evil" mantra?
Slashdot Mirror
I strongly agree that a more capitalist-inclined incentive structure is needed, given the realities of Now. That means that for massive, collaborative efforts to really mature, capital in the form of monetary compensation and benefits must be amassed and distributed on a per-role basis.
I do believe we're starting to see open source pose serious threats to these powerhouses you mention but, yes, the most successful of these are in fact strengthened by financial incentive (borne of self-interest) -- be it IBM contributing salaried developers to Linux development, or Mozilla able to employ core developers by way of startup funds from Netscape and corporate contributions, or Google hiring Firefox developers and allowing them to continue their work there.
Self-interest is as good of a motivator as any -- open source exists because enough people believe the given product represents significant value to them, and they have the means by which to make it happen together. But the corporate world is far more attractive for self-interest reasons as well -- hell, I'd love to get free massages and lunch in Mountain View, CA.
If anything, the current state of open source demonstrates the Power of Us. As our ability to collaborate en masse matures, it represents new possibilities for every tenet of life, right down to the economic systems that power our productivity.
So while I believe we must marry the ideology behind open source with real incentives for today, I do not rule out the nature of these incentives being radically different for tomorrow.
--Dave
I was waiting for someone to bring up micropayments, because it is, in my humble opinion, exactly the point here. The future of the way mankind connects and collaborates increasingly looks like it will be powered by Google, and that future will allow use of a feature-rich, web-based digital panel (their Fusion strategy is this in its infant stage) including office applications, satellite/maps, e-mail, social network utilities, and of course the ability to search a by-then massive world of structured and meaningful information.
:)
And as you use the system, a few cents get deducted from your Wallet here and there.
Did I mention Google will shift much of its back-end server architecture to P2P, to the people, thus really giving new meaning to their "do no evil" mantra?
My blog coming soon. I promise. (http://dave.notik.com/) --D