On Thu, 2007-03-22 at 11:03 +0100, Jan Karjalainen wrote:
> "Me, I just don't care about proprietary software. It's not "evil" or
> "immoral," it just doesn't matter. I think that Open Source can do
> better, and I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is by working on
> Open Source, but it's not a crusade -- it's just a superior way of
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> working together and generating code."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It is almost prophetical. I recall reading books by Alvin Toffler in the
70's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_Toffler), "Future Shock" and
"The third Wave", later "Previews and Premises" (only the works before
83 were r-evolutionary; the later works became a political slant). It
remains a question of time till the 'lock-in' of customers by
organisations are broken. It will be a matter of costs. OS's have to
become part of the PC-System, just as a motor is part of the automobile.
Some may have fun at playing around with modding (and maybe a bit
'religious' about it), but 90% will just drive from A to B (A-religious
most of the time). They could not care what is under the hood. BTW,
Pre-installed bundling is misunderstood as a sort of 'free-software',
but for which the customer pays anyway without realising it. It's a
clever marketing trick, but many are looking for reduction of costs;
bundling may fall prey to it.
But, what makes a difference are the social components OSS provide on a
global basis. No company world wide can put such resources together as
freely organised 'dedicated to the cause' groups of people, enjoying the
fact that they have all the same passion; e.g. OSS. They are not doing
it for a paycheck. They are passionate, as 'hobbyists' were about their
hobbies in previous generations. Today they are mostly specialists,
using their skills to create something that addresses the need to
self-actualisation. Organisational & Industrial psychologists know that
this sort of motivation is the ultimate point of personal development in
the occupational environment. Most organisations try to achieve it, most
do not succeed, because share-holder value is the driving force. So,
these specialists with a drive to self-actualise invest all possible
time beyond that what they need to earn a living into such projects.
Previously, the churches, community work, political parties, hobbies,
etc. got the attention; today those who do not participate in such
activities because there was nothing in these standard activities the
interested them, get involved in things like social software and OSS.
Here is where Linus has a point. Open Source can do better, and will do
better eventually. Because it is open, everyone can do a quality check,
even improve it and get the recognition for it - world-wide! No closed
source team of even dozens of people can do it, because there is no way
of ensuring to have the best programmers have an opportunity to look
into it. Even the best ones can also improve on hints and requirements
from newbies; who have no access in closed source at all.
The down side is time. Most enthusiasts also have multiple activities
and jobs to be a normal human being that has to work to eat, sleep and
have fun. When being able to earn a living and being able to do OSS work
full time can be somehow brought together, it will cause a paradigm
shift. This is what Toffler talked about. It is happening on the quiet,
but has major impact on the future.
Who as managed to marry earning a living and doing OSS full time? Share
it with us, so we can develop a new way of doing things ..., or as Linus
says: " .. a superior way of working together"
:-)
LandoSr.
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