

Open Source -- Can It Innovate? - habs
http://www.opensource.org/node/375

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mixmax
Innovation has less to do with open or closed source and more to do with
organizational structure and chain of command.

Innovation comes from individuals - not from groups. If one person is in
charge and has the power to drive his ideas through an organisation, whether
that is an open source project or a company, he will be able to realise his
innovative ideas. If consensus in an organisation is that decisions are made
by committee innovation is less likely to happen. Committees have a tendency
to boil away anything that is radical, new, or not proven.

Apple is innovative because Steve Jobs is the supreme leader.

Python is innovative because Guido van Rossum is benevolent dictator for life.

Bittorrent is innovative because Bram Cohen had an idea, programmed it
himself, and had no organisation to answer to.

Linux is innovative because Linus Thorvalds is even better at divide and
conquer strategies than he is at coding.

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DarkShikari
It seems that to some extent this article is a response to obvious trolls:
anyone who seriously makes the generalized claim that open source _cannot
innovate_ is either a fool or a troll. Its quite easy to come up with cases
where open source has innovated, and just as easy to come up with those where
it hasn't. Of course, in our anecdote-happy blogosphere, people are often
willing to use examples of the latter as proof of a ridiculously over-
expansive generality.

The real answer isn't that "open source innovates" or "closed source
innovates": rather, _people innovate_.

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cabalamat
Yes. Next question?

