Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: Rock and Roll - On open source

Author:Dave Winer
Posted:8/29/2000; 9:04:00 AM
Topic:Rock and Roll - On open source
Msg #:20480 (In response to 20478)
Prev/Next:20479 / 20481

In commercial software, someone is there saying that they own the rope and they get to control who's hanging from it, and who gets to move where, and what path should be followed. In true open source, not only does no one in particular own the rope - everyone is making more rope as they climb! Additionally, each developer is free to explore the nooks and crannies and paths that may eventually lead the whole group to a much higher and more rewarding vantage point.

Very good point, but probably not as true as you might imagine.

First, a lot of open source projects have benevolent dictators, people who have artistic control over what is and isn't in the product.

Second, you get a different kind of result with each kind of team. At UserLand I encourage my team members to do what you, to explore and design and make decisions. But I make the final call on what goes into the product. Not everyone can be on my team. That's for sure. They have to trust my judgment. But I also depend on theirs.

Look at results, not theories. With all due respect to the open source developers, none of them have created the kind of software we have. Perhaps when that happens we'll have a meaningful A-B comparison. But if they just clone our software, it's not meaningful, because there will be a key process that they have not come up with, the process of invention, which imho is not well understood or respected in the open source world.

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