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06.27.2006 (previous | next)
Baffling, What isn't Open Source?

I caught a short piece on ZDNet describing how Bill Gates "embraced" open source as he talked about “bringing scientists together around a table and generating ideas about solving problems, without worries about money or who owns the ideas.” Of course, this is in reference to Bill Gates' philanthropic activities. However, the ZDNet piece describes it as “in a nutshell (is) the open source process.” Well, I didn’t see anything about Bill Gates talking about a GPL, BSD or other similar license, nor is there mention of selling services and support on top of volunteer technology development. With this kind of generality for what constitutes "open source", should I call sharing a map with a fellow at the coffee shop, and letting him keep it for directions, open source traveling? What would constitute open source interior decorating, or open source shopping?

posted by Noel Le @ 1:09 PM | Free Culture Movement

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Don't confuse Open Source with business models that have sprung up around it. And don't confuse it with specific licensing agreements (such as the BSD or GPL).

Open source, at its heart, is nothing more than what science has been doing for centuries -- publishing and sharing methods and results, as applied to software, with the least amount of friction as possible.

The misnomer is in calling all these other activities "open source" when "open source" is just a specialization of openness and reduction of market friction. ZDNet would do well to call what Bill Gates is doing by a more accuration term describing the specialization of openness that it is, something like "traditional science" or "pre-IP-regime science."

Posted by: George at June 27, 2006 5:41 PM
 
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