Tech Central Station: Source Socialism

“At a recent Stanford University lecture, open source
proselytizer Bruce Perens encouraged students to get involved in
the open source political movement. A few folks were enthused, but
many seemed confused by how a method of software production and
distribution can ignite such activism.

“Open source software products are usually free of charge and
are created and altered by many different individuals. The Linux
operating system, which can be used instead of Microsoft Windows,
is an example of an open source product. Linux is popular with many
technical folks because of its quality, but not all of them have
political feelings about it.

“Indeed, there would have been much less confusion if Perens had
given his talk to a political science or sociology class where
students regularly consider terms like ‘equity,’ ’empowerment,’ and
‘social contracts.’ It will clearly take more time to incite
electrical engineering and computer science students, let alone the
masses…”

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