Toward an Open Source Society
One of the oldest arguments against anarchism is that it is impractical, that without central authority to keep the peons in line any large project will dissolve into chaos and disorder. Yet the open source software movement provides modern day proof that anarchism works, even when not conducted by anarchists.
Source code is the human readable text of a computer program,
written by programmers and compiled into binary format for execution by
the computer. Without the source code, it is nearly impossible to
modify a computer program, or even understand how it works. Proprietary
software vendors like Microsoft keep their source code confidential,
distributing binary-only software to rob users of the ability to modify
it for their own purposes.
Open source software projects, by
contrast, make their source code available to everyone. Anyone with an
Internet connection can access the code and submit changes to the
project maintainers. Non-code contributions can include bug reports,
testing, documentation, and tech support. Development is thus conducted
by a community for mutual benefit, instead of a corporation for maximum
profit. This advantage is not just hypothetical. Successful open source
projects in all areas of computing are slowly burying their closed
competition.
Beginning the Open Source movement – GNU General Public Licence
Software developer and software freedom activist Richard Stallman
probably deserves more credit than anyone else for starting the open
source movement. Together with a group of programmers Stallman founded
and launched the GNU Project and Free Software Foundation back in the
mid eighties. Stallman's greatest contribution was the GNU General
Public License (GPL).
Under copyright law, copyrighted works,
which include software ¬can be licensed under nearly any terms the
author desires. Anyone receiving the copyrighted work is legally bound
by the terms of the license. The GPL allows anyone to freely
redistribute the software it covers (and any derivations), but they
must include the source code in the redistribution and put the
redistribution under the GPL, as well.
Linux and Firefox – Successful Open Source projects
There are legions of successful Open Source projects, but two of the
best known are the operating system called Linux and the Firefox Web
browser. Firefox is known to millions of users as a fast and convenient
way to access the Web. Its extension system allows programmers to
easily create downloadable plug-ins, resulting in features like ad
locking that no commercial vendor would dare provide. Firefox has been
“stealing” market share from Microsoft's Internet Explorer since its
introduction in 2004, approaching 50 percent in parts of Europe.
Linux
was introduced in the fall of 1991 by Finnish student Linus Torvalds in
response to the copyright restrictions surrounding Minix, an operating
system used for teaching purposes at universities. Torvald switched
Linux over to the GPL the next year and later incorporated Stallman's
GNU tools. Known formally as GNU/Linux, the new operating system got a
tremendous boost, when the Internet, formerly confined to academia, was
released to the general public in 1993. Now anyone with a phone line
and a PC could download the Linux source code and make their own
modifications.
Attracted by the subversive potential of the GPL
and the chance to help create something new and worthwhile volunteer
programmers all over the world poured code into the new project. Device
drivers, bug fixes, and new features began to accumulate. Other
projects sprang up to provide applications for Linux. Non-programmers
contributed documentation, testing, and Web hosting. Within a few
years, Linux progressed from a student hobby to a powerful, stable, and
enormously flexible operating system that now runs on everything from
iPods to supercomputers.
Big hardware companies like IBM and HP
have adopted and even contributed to Linux, if only because it was
cheaper than trying to extend their own proprietary operating systems
to compete with it.
The Open Source Society
So if the open source approach works so well for software, why not use it everywhere? Why not make an open source society? These are the questions the ruling establishment desperately hopes you won't ask. Passive, isolated consumers are the life-blood of the corporate oligarchy, and that makes Open Source anything an enormous threat. As more and more of us turn to mutual cooperation to solve our problems, the elite will be faced with a question of their own: If anarchism is so impractical, why is it working?
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