Mojolin: Is the Open Source development model applicable to other industries?

[ Thanks to Dan Barber
for this link. ]

“In my last article, The Future Uv Development , I satirized the
future based on Microsoft’s most recent efforts at FUD. The story
itself was facetious, but as I was writing the sci-fi like
scenarios, it occurred to me that there were some interesting
possibilities there.”

“I realize that we in the open source community have
something unique, good and revolutionary. It is a complete shift in
paradigm from a limited to an unlimited world. It is one that will
change the world, not just the software industry, as it
spreads. There are several unique characteristics to this
movement. First, it is a movement in which it is technical merit,
not money, which decides survival. Second, it is a movement driven
by the people — true grass-roots… true democracy. (It is
interesting to note that this form of democracy is one without
representation, ie each individual stands for himself, not one
person representing the multitude) Third, it utilizes the GNU
General Public License (GPL) which ensures the freedom of the
software throughout its evolution. And the fourth unique
characteristic of this movement is its total lack of harmful
by-products; no cost or restrictions, better development, faster to
the table, widespread distribution. It is a true win-win-win
situation. This is why global adoption of Linux is in full swing.
Even if Microsoft were to jump in tomorrow, they would only benefit
from the experience.”

“One last point, before I go on, as to why open source has been
successful. The spirit of “community” has an unbelievable effect on
a sense of belonging and on the desire to share knowledge. The
internet has allowed the open source community to collaborate
freely, gathering at sites of interest for exchange of ideas. While
the idea of “community” is not unique to open source, without it,
open source would have died in its infancy.”

Complete
Story