

The 'deeper why' of open source - joshowens
http://thoughts.unicoder.io/the-deeper-why-of-open-source

======
rywalker
My switch from Microsoft to the world of open source 8 years ago was like
taking the red pill — absolutely transformation in how I thought about and now
build software.

~~~
joshowens
Yeah, good point, I didn't even mention Microsoft. I've used open source to
live without them for decades, I guess.

------
vezzy-fnord
I wonder why some people are so insistent on ignoring the words "free
software", or less ambiguously, "free and open source software".

Is it because they have this incorrect strawman notion of radical Stallmanism
embedded in their minds when these words appear in their head, or because
they're simply unaware?

Absolutely nothing against open source projects, but speaking about the
betterment of society through open source software is puerile, given that open
source is a purely pragmatic issue.

~~~
memracom
"Open Source" is the software equivalent of Robert Boyle's modern experimental
scientific method which rests on the open publication of what you did so that
anyone else can do it too. This is the foundation of the Industrial Revolution
and the modern world. Note that Boyle died in 1691.

Given the betterment of society that has been created since that time, I think
that your "puerile" comment is both too extreme and ill-informed. Yes, a lot
of people out there are channeling Stallman, and maybe many of them are
puerile hero worshipers, but Open Source does not rest on a foundation of
Stallmanism. He was just one of many proponents of open publication, and
groups which preceded him like IBM's SHARE followed the same well-established
principles.

~~~
belorn
Thats just plain wrong and revisionism. The creation of "open source" is well
documented by Eric S. Raymond - its creator.

We do live in the age of perfectly kept records. The emails are there. The
1998 announcement of a source code release for Navigator, the described need
for a more business friendly term for _free software_ , and the creation of
the open source initiative.

To be precise, Open Source rest on the creation made by Raymond, which in turn
rest on the foundation of Free software, which in turn rest on Stallman, which
in turn rest on the hacker culture of the MIT lab, which in turn rest on ...
and so on and so on. Somewhere down there, IBM SHARE could be mentioned, and
further down, Robert Boyle, and even further down, the medieval guilds, and
before that, the library of Alexandria.

So instead of arguing the absurd argument that the Industrial Revolution
somehow created "open source", use the perfectly kept record that its inventor
made. Everything else will just sound as advocacy for your faith and
revisionism.

