So, I woke up this morning and almost decided to delete yesterday's entry and replace it. I've thought lots about Open Source as a concept, and I've talked about it with a good number of people, but never in a coherent, straightforward, answer-all-the-questions kind of way. I've done lots of reflecting on the topic. It may seem a bit far-fetched, but I think there are strong connections between the Open Source movement (I will continue to call it that, unless someone can write and make a good case not to call it that) and the DRM debate that is going on around music CDs, movies and computer games. It also has some connections with peer-to-peer file sharing and the whole issue of copyright and intellectual propery.
So, I've talked with a number of people about Open Source software, and I freely admit that part of the point of these conversations is to help me come to an understanding in my own mind about the whole issue of "open source". Unfortunately, I am still working it all out, and that's probably why I wasn't satisfied with what I wrote yesterday (and actually if you are checking the dates and times - it was really quite early today!).
Open Source is more than just a collection of really good and really cheap (as in free!) software, although those two attributes are not to be sneezed at. For me there is an interesting ethic to be explored. And I also think there is a spirituality behind that ethic. So that, along with the fact that the software I use is both good and free, is why I am so attracted to the whole idea of Open Source. For me it has something to do with being gifted by God and using those gifts to develop software and then allow people to have it for nothing - as long as they agree to make their own work available as well.
I really do want sometime to explore the whole spiritual background of developers of open source software. Because I think that community-developed (a term that is sometimes used to describe open source contributions) software is an important, tangible example of the kind of community that is described in the aforementioned book of Acts.
The whole idea of free to use, free to change, free to buy software movement, brings one into discussions about giftedness, intellectual property and other ways of organizing ourselves. After all, doesn't free stuff do a real number on the prevailing system of values? What would it mean if we all bartered our way around the money system.
So not only does Open Source help me get stuff done freely (in all the ways you want to define it), but it helps me to reflect on the ways in which God has gifted those around us.
I still don't feel like I said everything I wanted to say in a manner that is straightforward and understandable, but perhaps a little better than last night's posting.
Of course this all sounds a bit like this: Using Open Source solutions - which end up being better in quality as well as free, helps me to think about God and the way God has gifted us. And that, my friends, is how the action-reflection- action cycle goes. Which all means that using open source is much like a Lenten discipline. They both lead me on a path which ends up being close to where we started. And they both help me to reflect on God and God's relationship with us.
I hope that makes more sense than last night, and I expect you have not heard the last of this subject!
My graphic today is one that comes from the Free Software Foundation which is known for its Gnu logo - depicting the animal called a Gnu. However the Free Software Foundation also produces software which is labeled with the Gnu name. And what does Gnu stand for? Well it is a self-defining acronym meaning Gnu is Not Unix. Do you get it? It's a little inside joke that often shows up as a kind of naming convention for Open Source software. Yellowknife,
March 24, 2010
No comments:
Post a Comment