Open Sources | Rodrigues & Urlocker » The open source ball-and-chain?

January 24, 2007 | Comments: (0)

The open source ball-and-chain?

TAGS: Open Source

I was reading this morning, and came across a passage that really struck me: we are free to act, not to be acted upon. This jibes perfectly with what I've been reading in William James. Freedom is in action, not in waiting for others to act upon us.

In the open source world, many companies treat open source as a ball-and-chain to be endured (for the marketing benefits of saying they're "open source"), rather than as a tool that gives them essential liberties and advantages. Open source is a tool, even a weapon, for MySQL, Red Hat, and others. It's a cross to be borne by others. This is reflected in their licensing: open source, but not too much.

(Incidentally, this same phenomenon shows up in all aspects of software. There are true Web 2.0 companies, and then there are those that try to hide their true business models in AJAX. There are true SaaS companies, and then there are those who are hosted and little more. There is a fundamental difference between acting a part and being that part.)

It is my strong conviction that the best open source companies are those that embrace open source the most fully. Not because they are the most "pure," but because they leave themselves the most leverage and latitude to act. Proprietary software forces a company to live in the old software model with pricey salesforces, passive customers, etc.

The best companies are those that act with open source, rather than allow themselves to be acted upon by open source. I'm not alone in this belief: the companies that attract the most developer community interest are those that thrive as communities, just as much as they thrive as companies. Developers can smell faux open source miles away. It's therefore easy to spot a pseudo-open source company. It will be the emperor without clothes: the company without community.

Open source without community is a sham.

Posted by Matt Asay on January 24, 2007 05:55 AM

RATE THIS ARTICLE: