Open Source ain't like a VW Van

We're interested in the whole issue of open-source and free software because 1) it seems like a new, post-work form of productive organisation, sustaining creative play as much as dutiful work; and 2) many of its advocates (from Linus Torvalds to Richard Stallman) are self-consciously playful types. The FT (a free link, in suitably non-proprietary spirit) has run a grown-up debate on the topic. James Boyle is one of the participants, the Robin to Lawrence Lessig's Batman in the fight for free culture. Here's Boyle's funny put down of his libertarian, copyright-zealous opponent, Richard Epstein:

His key criticism [of open source] is that “idealistic communes cannot last for the long haul.” Well, the Catholic Church is also a relatively idealistic institution, based on canonical texts that are subject to conflicting interpretations. It is doing pretty well so far. Presumably the key word here is “commune.” But is open source a “commune”, holding tangible property in common and excluding the rest of us, worrying about how to split up the proceeds if someone leaves because of bad karma? Or is it a community, creating and offering to the entire world the ability to use, for free, non-rival goods that all of us can have, use and re-interpret as we wish? In that kind of commune, each of us could take all the property the community had created with us when we left, and the commune still be none the poorer. Copying software isn’t like fighting over who owns the candles or the VW bus.

How about idealism? Prof Epstein himself is careful to point out that it is by no means clear that the production of open source software is based solely on the idealism of its creators. There are lots of reasons that people write open code. They want to solve a particular problem and don’t mind others getting the fruit of their efforts, because they themselves benefited from the earlier work of other programmers. They believe in free software. They hope to get a better job. They are good at coding, and like to display their virtuosity. They are paid to do it. The last category is an increasingly large percentage of the whole. Amazingly, IBM now earns more from what it calls “Linux-related revenues” than it does from traditional patent licensing, and IBM is the largest patent holder in the world. This does not seem like a community that is declining.