"Letting your data connect to other people's data is [...] not about giving to people data which they don't have a right to. It is about letting it be connected to data from peer sites. It is about letting it be joined to data from other applications. It is about getting excited about connections, rather than nervous."
Tim Berners-Lee
Much has changed since the term "open source" was coined ten years ago. The idea of sharing code, once relegated to research institutions and hobbyists, is starting to reach ubiquity in the consciousness of both government and business. More recently, this concept has extended beyond software. Everything from hardware to data to knowledge is becoming "open". Despite this trend towards openness--or perhaps due to the stark contrast openness provides--accessibility remains a difficult obstacle to overcome.
Much has changed since the term "open source" was coined ten years ago. The idea of sharing code, once relegated to research institutions and hobbyists, is starting to reach ubiquity in the consciousness of both government and business. More recently, this concept has extended beyond software. Everything from hardware to data to knowledge is becoming "open". Despite this trend towards openness--or perhaps due to the stark contrast openness provides--accessibility remains a difficult obstacle to overcome.
Q. I can understand how small businesses and startups can benefit from the no-licensing costs associated with open source software (OSS). Can you provide an example of a business reason for using OSS other than the licensing cost of the software?
A. Here is an example that occurred during a time when worm outbreaks were just starting to hit organizations hard. Some organizations were already receiving feedback as traffic caused by computer worms was causing networks to fail, and failing is the worst form of feedback.
Having had a few more hours to think about Industry Minister Jim Prentice's Canadian DMCA, I am left with one dominant feeling--betrayal.
"Open, distributed innovation is attacking a major structure of the social division of labor. Many firms and industries must make fundamental changes to long-held business models in order to adapt."
Eric Von Hippel, MIT
"There are two ways of constructing a software design. One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies. And the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies."
Professor C. A. R. Hoare
"In programming, as in everything else, to be in error is to be reborn."
Alan J. Perlis, first recipient of Turing Award
