jeudi 22 juillet 2004

"Grand answer to our petty question" What if you were looking at the right thing, the wrong way? This article is one of the best I've seen in a long time on the topic of open source economics. Admittedly my experience in finance is teensy-thin, but even my limited perspective is locked into some truths that just aren't questioned or examined at all. Such as, my rather rabid free marketeer approach to life. But what if I was looking at things the wrong way? Mr. Prasad examines open source, and the virulent comparison of open source to a cancer, by evaluating common criticisms. Very illuminating. While I had already started considering the "software is becoming a commodity" issue vis a vis Tim O'Reilly's recent writing, I hadn't seen a treatment of all the consequences of this. In particular, Mr. Prasad's contention that investment-backed commercial software can't supply society's demands for software and innovation is worth the read. A few years ago I was on a panel at an O'Reilly conference with some open source bigwigs. Tim moderated the discussion. I didn't have many useful answers, so at the end, I asked the panel a question. We had spent an hour discussing open source business through the prism of an American capital model, but the kernel, desktop, and programming language I was using all came from Europe. Was there some meaning there? This article makes me realize that I didn't stretch far enough: [T]he market, as we have seen, doesn't recognize the existence of those who have nothing to offer as suppliers and nothing to pay as consumers. They are invisible people... Therefore it falls to the miserable to improve their lot themselves. Of course the irony will be if the patent system, and multinational treaties, makes it impossible for all those brains to ever be put to use in a way that might discomfort Western shareholders. The new colonialism, I suppose. You're allowed to make money, but we'll hold the cards concerning wealth, thank you very much. 1:40:35 PM   comment []