Openness: August 2003 Archives

From Linux Set to Break Through in Consumer Electronics:

"BERLIN (Reuters) - Linux (news - web sites), the fast growing and freely available operating system, is set to be the software of choice for future televisions, set top boxes and DVD recorders, consumer electronics executives and specialists said Thursday."

The author of Linux poised to shape software and society: Development of free operating system tracing path of King James Bible attempts to link the influence that the King James Bible had on the English speaking world and the society in general with the potential that the Linux as an open source operating system can potentially influence the software development world and the society.

The analogy presented is an interesting one riding on the similarities of the collaborative writing process of the King James and the collaborative process in the development of Linux:

"The fundamental story of the Bible had existed for a thousand years by the time James and his crew took a crack at it. The information it contains is pretty much the same as all other bibles, but how that information is presented is as important. The second fact of its composition is that a committee of 50 did it. It is a monumental work of literature (in addition to its religious importance) ... and what other work of similar import was written by such a large group rather than a single brilliant author? Finally, it was open (written in compelling and accessible language available to the average person of the time) and wasn't copywrited."

"Sounds like Linux."

"While started by one man (Linus Torvalds) it has since been improved and perfected by thousands of programmers. The Linux system tells computers how to live their little silicon lives."

While the analogy is interesting it also raises a lots of questions on the appropriateness of its use. For example, it states that the Bible in English "was written" when it was a translation. There is no doubt about the benefit of one vs. collaborative effort. However, the significance of translation vs. authorship is not well explained. So, the argument is confined, limited, and based on the analogy of individual vs. collaborative effort.

Can the individual vs. collaborative effort analogy be used to imply inference that the open source OS (such as Linux) can be to the software development as the King James Bible was to the English speaking world and the society in general?

Any comments?

Courtesy of Adina Levin's weblog BookBlog:

US Patent Office Opposes Open Source:

"Prof. Lessig reports the breathtakingly clue-deprived opinions of the USPTO on open source software.

The patent office was trying to pull the plug on a WIPO meeting that had open source on the agenda. Lois Boland, director of international relations for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, is quoted as saying saying: “open-source software runs counter to the mission of WIPO, which is to promote intellectual-property rights... To hold a meeting which has as its purpose to disclaim or waive such rights seems to us to be contrary to the goals of WIPO.”

Good discussion in the comments to Lessig's blog.

I wonder what the points of leverage are for USPTO accountability. When nearly 2 million people protested the FCC's policy on media consolidation, the FCC blithely ignored the protest -- but Congress advanced bills to overturn the FCC policy. Who's listening on IP policy?"

MIT's OpenCourseWare project, is yet another manifestation of the philosophy of 'openness'.

In terms of use, the OpenCourseWare is licensed under a Creative Commons License, which means that course materials available can be shared freely and openly for non-commercial purposes, and any derivative work should be distributed with the same licence as the one by which OpenCourseWare material is made available.

Great!

In light of the arguments presented in New front in SCO-IBM-Linux war, it appears that SCO is aware (or they should be aware) they can't win the war against IBM, Linux and open source in general.

"Start with the fact that Linux isn't as much product as it is movement. As the emblem of open source and brainchild of Linus Torvalds, Linux stands for the notion that progress is not proprietary. Given that SCO means to ration access to the secrets Linux's father set free, SCO's lawsuit is a little like locking the door on Martin Luther King Jr.'s jail cell and expecting to stop the civil rights movement."

Whether the above analogy is an appropriate one is not very important. However, it is worth noting that the 'open source movement' can't be stopped with a subpoena.

Does SCO really believe they will be able to get licensing fees from all the users of Linux? I think they know they will not be able to win this war. What is this game about then?

In response to George's entry Open Source as a Social Movement I would like to add that open source should be looked beyond the software space. Open source software is just one manifestation of the open source philosophy, and the open source as a social movements is yet another manifestation of the open source philosophy--in a way more abstract than the open source software given the practical results, its products, as explained in Open Source as a Social Movement.

The 'source' in open source can mean different things to different people and contexts, depending on the level of abstraction and/or pragmatics:

• to the software development is the code


• to the publishing function it the content therefore the 'open content'


• to the access function is the process of communication, therefore 'open access'


• etc...

Independently of the various manifestations of the open source, there appear to be two important factors in trying to understand and elaborate the various manifestations: the open content and open communication, aided by the concept of translation. I have elaborated many of these items in the corresponding entries [follow the links] as well as in the following two categories: Open Content and Open Communication, The Open Source Philosophy, and Actor-Network theory & methodology.

From a more social perspective, in the open source Internet as a possible antidote to corporate media hegemony it is argued that the open source Internet, as a result of open source movement, manifests itself as a possible antidote to the corporate media hegemony, not only in the US but also throughout the world.

From First Monday
Open content and value creation by Magnus Cedergren:

"In this paper, I consider open content as an important development track in the media landscape of tomorrow. I define open content as content possible for others to improve and redistribute and/or content that is produced without any consideration of immediate financial reward — often collectively within a virtual community. The open content phenomenon can to some extent be compared to the phenomenon of open source. Production within a virtual community is one possible source of open content. Another possible source is content in the public domain. This could be sound, pictures, movies or texts that have no copyright, in legal terms."

Not that the "open content phenomenon can to some extent be compared to the phenomenon of open source", from another perspective perhaps it is more appropriate to look at open source as open content. I would argue that open source (as related to software) is a special case of open content. I guess my definition of open content then becomes broader than what the above article suggests in relation to media.

Related:
Open Content and Open Communication