[OS:N:] Re: open-source in schools and then some

["ekunin" <ekunin snet net>]

> Woah!  I like seeing people take interesting positions and defend them,
> but suggest that perhaps the book "The Future of Ideas" by Larry Lessig
> (look it up on Amazon.com) might explain why I don't believe that "open
> source is the opposite of free market capitalism".  In Lessig's book, he
> shows that open source is quite the example of free market economics
> (but it puts on its head many of the assumptions and/or practices we
> take for granted as being related to free market capitalism).

Sorry. I assumed too much. Open source as practiced today is not the
antithesis of free market capitalism. It's very much a part of it which is
more the problem than the solution. Open source is a new way for people to
collectively resolve problems. It is comparatively egalitarian although the
administrator sometimes makes decisions I believe should be made by the
group. Some on this list think that sort of group think is impossible. The
ideals of open source, cooperation and generosity, differ from the emotions
that drive free market capitalism.

As a thought exercise, consider how Linux would have developed had the
market and money not entered into it. Would the same decisions have been
made? The same paths taken? I don't think so. I don't think we would be as
fragmented. Don't get me wrong. I don't blame Red Hat and the others for
their IPO's. The market and money does enter into things.

As for Lessig's book. I read it about a year ago. I remember liking it, but
I don't remember anything else.

Ed Kunin
http://www.egalite.com