[Newspoetry] THE POWER OF OPENNESS

[Mike Lehman]

For the software geeks on the list
<http://opencode.org/h2o/>

Found at Cryptome<http://www.jya.com/crypto.htm> which is a great site
for these sorts of issues, if you don't already konw about it.

I just put a teaser here, but some good info and it can be reproduced if
you want to post it or pass it along.
Mike



Why Citizens, Education, Government and Business
                   Should Care About the Coming Revolution
                           in Open Source Code Software

                                  A Critique and a Proposal
                                     for The H20 Project


         [cc] 1999 Berkman Center for Internet and Society
         Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is
permitted in any medium, provided this
         notice is preserved. 

<http://opencode.org/h2o/>

Introduction 
         Table Of Contents

         As software and networking technologies rapidly insinuate
themselves into the deepest reaches of
         American commerce, culture and governance, the architecture of
our democratic society is being
         transformed. One lesson that is becoming clearer is that the
design of hardware and software and
         the governance of the Internet matters. These issues can
profoundly affect competition and
         innovation in markets, the ability of universities, libraries
and nonprofits to pursue their missions,
         and the control that individuals can exercise over their lives.

         Within the past year, a number of forces have converged to
suggest the socially constructive
         potential of software whose design code can be freely accessed
and modified by computer users.
         It is a complex story that is still unfolding and known chiefly
in computing/Internet circles. As we
         will explain in Section I, a growing grassroots movement on a
global scale is challenging
         proprietary models of software development by generating
superior, more reliable software that is
         far cheaper and even free. 

         The implications are not just technical but economic, political
and cultural. A new software
         movement based chiefly on free, open access to the source code
of software, is showing its
         tremendous power to fortify user sovereignty in the
computing/Internet marketplace. This
         movement represents one of the most novel, potentially powerful
expressions of the consumer
         movement in a generation. Over time, if fully developed, the
new models of software development
         could produce innovative, cost-efficient software at much less
cost than today, a capacity that
         could particularly benefit the voluntary, academic, nonprofit
and professional communities. It could
         also help check the excesses of a market-dominated culture by
fortifying these "gift culture"
         communities while mitigating worrisome concentrations of
corporate power in the software
         industry. 

         But the rich latencies of this Internet-facilitated phenomenon
may never develop if a new
         kind of networking leadership does not coalesce to assert the
important values that can
         only flourish in an environment of openness. The user community
and many non-technical
         constituencies must begin to identify and advance their
strategic interests in open code software.
         Such a mobilization of resources is especially needed because
many segments of the software and
         computer industries seem committed to containing the expansion
of open code software, but, for
         now, have not consolidated enough to develop a unified
response. 

         In the meantime, fissures among the proponents of open source
code software may complicate the
         forward momentum of this movement. One branch, the Free
Software movement, sees distinct
         moral, social and civic value in the source code of software
being legally available to anyone in
         perpetuity. Another branch, the Open Source movement, is more
concerned with the technical
         superiority of open source code software and its intriguing
commercial possibilities. Rather than
         privilege one or the other branch of the movement -- whose
strategic objectives both overlap and
         diverge -- this essay will refer to both collectively as "open
code" (not "open source") unless one
         or the other is specifically intended. In the interest of
inclusiveness, this text will also use the term
         "new software movement" to refer to new non-proprietary models
of software development and
         alternative intellectual property regimes.