Thanks for a thoughtful post about the open sourcing of business and its potential. We have very strong, well-run examples of closed-source thinking dominating most aspects of the computing world today, and it's interesting to consider what we could get if there was a significant increase in the pace of competition and innovation again. Hopefully, greater acceptance and use of the open source model would stimulate those effects, as you suggest. If you're right, we're in for some really exciting times!
@Remy,
Interesting point about Ford, but I'm not sure you're giving enough credit to those who came before us in computing. The disruptive but incredibly innovation-rich shift in computing from mainframes to mini-computers to micros (PC's) started on the PC side much like Linux is today, with hobbyists and heavily hackable, if primitive, machines and operating systems. The consolidation of that revolution into a relatively few hands came about as it became more popular and accepted, mostly by business -- the economies of scale needed to drive down prices became increasingly important and a huge competitive weapon.
If you look at IIPA's website and the roster of groups it represents, I think you see industries with a diverse range of products but a startling commonality in what they want from the government process. The people pushing the Indonesian issue don't care about the conditions on the ground, they're responding to a real or perceived threat to their bottom line. This tends to concentrate your mind if you have a payroll to meet or investors.
The OSS community is significantly more fragmented, and IMO, at a significant disadvantage. I think we spend way, way too much time pointing out the opposition's perceived legal, ethical and moral failings, and not constructing a positive argument about the benefits of open source. It comes across as whiny and emotional, and at least in the U.S. I have trouble seeing that approach getting any traction with outside observers or policymakers.
Thanks for a thoughtful post about the open sourcing of business and its potential. We have very strong, well-run examples of closed-source thinking dominating most aspects of the computing world today, and it's interesting to consider what we could get if there was a significant increase in the pace of competition and innovation again. Hopefully, greater acceptance and use of the open source model would stimulate those effects, as you suggest. If you're right, we're in for some really exciting times!
@Remy,
Interesting point about Ford, but I'm not sure you're giving enough credit to those who came before us in computing. The disruptive but incredibly innovation-rich shift in computing from mainframes to mini-computers to micros (PC's) started on the PC side much like Linux is today, with hobbyists and heavily hackable, if primitive, machines and operating systems. The consolidation of that revolution into a relatively few hands came about as it became more popular and accepted, mostly by business -- the economies of scale needed to drive down prices became increasingly important and a huge competitive weapon.