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A Contrarian View of Open Source

by Derrick Story
Network Newsletter for 08/06/2002

Dear Reader,

Do you know who Bruce Sterling is? He's written eight science fiction novels plus a non-fiction manuscript, "The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier." Bruce is an engaging, humorous, and at times, a very pointed speaker. He held court in a crowded room on the final day of the Open Source Convention, and now he's published the text he prepared for that talk.

If you've never read Bruce or heard him speak, here's a little taste. In this passage he's discussing the Open Source Movement in reaction to Eric Raymond's "The Cathedral & the Bazaar." There's more text on both sides of these passages, but this should give you an idea.

"Open source, basically, is about hanging out with the cool guys.

It's very tribal, and it's very fraternal. It's all about Eric, and Linus, and RMS, and Tim, and Bruce, and Tom, and Larry. These are guru charisma guys. They're like artists, like guys running an art movement. Guys who dress up with halos and wear wizard hats. That form of organization is not a bazaar. It's not a cathedral. But it nevertheless has some distinct advantages. Because if you're in a cathedral, then you have to wear this holy uniform all the time. If you're in a bazaar, you have to stake out this patch of ground and keep it, and defend it, or just get overwhelmed by other guys greedier than you.

The coolest thing about doing this artsy noncommercial creative work is that you get to stop. You get to throw up your hands and quit, if you want. It's like a charity."

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Sound interesting? Then you might want to stop by and read Bruce's entire article, "A Contrarian View of Open Source."

I hope you have time for a quick read.

Until next week,

Derrick
O'Reilly Network Managing Editor
derrick@oreilly.com

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