Blogger: Joe Niski
Now
that I've had a few days to rest up and catch up after attending OSCON 2007 (my first), I can digest the experience and test whether I'm still as inspired
as I was last week.
One
could describe OSCON as a really good developers' conference, with plenty of
technical breadth and depth. But it
definitely had a sense of espirit de corps
that I haven't encountered elsewhere. For all the talk of the free/open source
movement "growing up" (it has in a number of ways), and for the
increasing involvement (some would say "encroachment") of enterprise
ISVs in open source projects, there's still a healthy amount of honest
idealistic motivation in the FOSS world. The idealism may be a bit tempered by
experience, and it may have reached a pragmatic coexistence with the realities
of doing business, but it's still palpable and still has a valuable influence
on the state of software, the development profession, and the expanding use of
computing by humanity.
Eben
Moglen (founder of the Software Freedom Law Center and
counsel to the Free Software Foundation
in drafting the just-released GPL v.3)
was more articulate than anyone else I've encountered in expressing the complex
and dynamic tensions between freedom and commerce; between the rights of
software developers, publishers and users; and between individualism and
community.
Much
was blogged last week about Moglen's spirited conversation with Tim O'Reilly during
an all-day "executive briefing" session (here,
here,
and here,
among other places). But Moglen's most insightful remarks were presented in a
talk titled "More Than Licenses: The Legal Policy of the Free World in the
Age of Web 2.0." Despite a healthy dose of what some might describe as
"freedom-fighter rhetoric," Moglen's talk was a balanced assessment
of the legal and political landscape, both inside and outside FOSS communities.
He also waxed poetic about the larger accomplishments of the FOSS movement
while exhorting the audience to continue maturing. What I appreciated most
was his ability to place the FOSS movement and the development profession in a much larger context.
The
text of his talk isn't available on the OSCON site, but I gleaned a few points
and a couple of quotes. Here are minimally-edited excerpts from my notes (I
typed furiously throughout the talk, and take responsibility for any
inaccuracies):
The
effects of community the and "network effect" in creating the Web 2.0
phenomenon were presaged beginning over 20 years ago by open source software
projects. Today the FOSS community is stronger than ever; the FOSS development,
distribution, and licensing model is well-enough established to be under no
substantial legal or commercial threats. But it's not completely out of the
woods - "..our problem is not with some failing monopolist; our problem is
with the uncertain state of patent reform in this country (the USA)."
"We (FOSS communities) spend little money and earn little money - though
we earn money for the companies around us - and we spend no money on lawsuits... The communities are
working with an absence of friction that should be the envy of the
industrialized world... our efforts are being used to benefit just about
everyone around the world... we are the best example the world has to show of
how the reduction of barbed wire can benefit business and society."
"...and
yet many still characterize us/you as geeks who don't understand politics!
...we have to be aware that this is a political
achievement... we should understand that we have built a republic, and
what it means to keep it."
FOSS
communities are examples of Emersonian meritocracy - rooted in the larger
(Western) values of individual achievement, freedom to reinvent ourselves, and
so forth - one's status depends on the answer to "what have you done?" This inevitably leans toward
libertarianism, and emphasis on individual rights, which has an odd tension
with the idea of community.
"Institutions
of equalization" are essential as more capital/wealth moves into the FOSS
republic - the most important of these is accessibility to each other, as
exemplified by email (despite all its problems). For such a "peaceable republic", the
OSS communities are notoriously undemocratic - no elections! The leadership of
meritocracy needs to evolve to an elected leadership model. "...attach the
people's power, collectively, to the people who lead them. ...to legitimize the
leadership over time."