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Life @ Open source
Unfortunately I seem to be continuing my writings in the technocentric theme developed firstly when I last put pen to paper. Pleased be assured that this is not a complete departure, and I'll try and make the next one technology free … or at least modern technology free.
Life @ Open source. Whatever do I mean by that? Well, beyond the fact (and I'm proud of this) that this means I've been able to use the "@" symbol and thus might appear vaguely trendy and, dare I say, funky, I'm talking about the (general) concept of Open Source software and what it could mean if it wasn't confined to software only. For those baffled by the term open source, in a nutshell (and I apologise for the simplicity here) this is software written by people/community but remains publicly available in terms of the actual code it consists of. This essentially means it is free - although people can charge for it and make money out support etc. (more information is available from our links page - under GNU).
This is not socialism or communism. This differs radically largely due to the limited scope. However, it is really a totally different concept. In fact, when I talk of expanding the concept further, I'd like to limit my scope just to the internet, and perhaps new media/entertainment. People still need to make money - unfortunately. Therefore they sell the fruits of their labour to others who exchange it for money, which, most likely, they have earned selling their labour/intellectual capacity. Seems fair, but alas there are lots of people and institutions putting the price up and taking a slice. The middle men. If one could directly exchange the fruits of our labour, without having to worry about genuine worth, and with no "cheating", things would be rather different.
The Internet, and specifically the www, is a great example of both sides of the coin. We are largely able to avoid these middle people/institutions. Publishing opinions, writing, research, entertainment, images, software etc. is cheap and easy for anyone with a bare minimum of skills and talent (for example me). People can join the community and share with everyone pretty much directly. Whilst people might not consciously think in terms of contributing and perpetuating or exchanging, this is what happens. So some people would have you believe that the work is done by a very small percentage of people and the rest are freeloaders (this is what the record industry argued when people sang the virtues of peer2peer), but I think most people contribute to the community. Whether it is through running a website, or posting to sites, helping others get online, or providing free access (parents & employers, through to community wireless projects), a high percentage of people contribute. Even those just buying online support e-businesses.
Yet with the Internet we also see the perfection of the middle man; a supreme mutation. We have seen a huge number of people get very rich, or continue to build to their substantial piles, out of the Internet, and IT in general. A large company providing content is simply taking the labour and knowledge of people and re-packaging and raising the cost. Whilst many of these companies do provide free content, more and more a shifting away from this model, and in any case are really not providing free content as you must endure thousands of pop up adds and flashing banners (unless you use Opera).
We can all try and make the community a better place. Make a conscious decision to give away your content. So it's not the same as open source, but take for example my website, andifeelfine. This is not a major money spinner for me (albeit not for want of trying - you can no doubt see the banners, and the Amazon links …). This site is something I enjoy. I also have a job, which pays my bills. However, in my online world I rarely pay for anything. This is because the content, software etc. I read/view/use is free (NB. I don't refer to content that people have "stolen", i.e. copyrighted music).
My rationalisation of this is the same as the opinion expressed above; I view it as a fair exchange for my content. People (including you) are free to read this, view the galleries, experience my website. It takes a fair amount of effort, which I'm happy to put in for free. In exchange, I use the fruits of other people's labour - I can't write a clever programme to synchronise my computer clock with an atomic clock in Russia. However, perhaps someone else can, and they have allowed me to use it for free (they may or may not have actually released it under an Open Source licence - doesn't really matter, I guess I really mean free software). Whilst the self same person might not actually have any interest in this website, others do, and perhaps one of those people is producing something that might be of interest or use to him/her. It's unlikely to be this direct, but you get the idea.
I guess this is how I see the internet, and who know, perhaps one day the world, working. We all do what we can, and share it with others. If it could work online, why not elsewhere?
I don't mean an obvious non-monetary system - there are clearly a great deal of disadvantages associated with a barter system. This is why we have evolved a system of monetary unit. It almost can only work if you don't think about it. I can't see this going in the near or distant future. Perhaps only when everyone is "happy with their lot" could we have a world that could mimic the freedom of the internet.
With the bursting of the .com bubble, people are hopefully not seeing the internet as a get rich quick scheme (anyone want to buy this site for a couple of million ..?) but as either a business tool to continue their selling/work (which I guess is fair enough), or as a medium by which you can be part of something so much bigger. The potential is there. Content can be free, as long as we all work for each other.
And then we really we all feel fine
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