8.1: Introduction
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Learning Outcomes
“Lions and tigers and bears! Oh, my!” – Dorothy, The Wizard of Oz (Langley, 1939)
Though relatively new to our collective consciousness, open source is a phrase tied to some of the more powerful words in our global history—innovation, evolution, movement, revolution—but the forerunner and mate of open source is free software, and by extension, the Free Software Movement. Both movements champion public access to source code. This is so important because software technology is an essential tool for progress on so many fronts, and the Internet has played a significant role in the democratization of information. DiBona, Ockman and Stone (1992) use the following analogy:
Imagine for a moment if Newton had withheld his laws of motion, and instead gone into business as a defense contractor to artillerists following the Thirty Years’ War. “No, I won’t tell you how I know about parabolic trajectories, but I’ll calibrate your guns for a fee.” The very idea, of course, sounds absurd (p. 11).
Richard Stallman, father of the Free Software Movement, GNU8 and the General Public Licence (GPL), says, “[That] is an understatement. Compared with software in 2000, physics in 1700 had a very small role in affecting people’s lives” (personal communication, September 11, 2006 12:58 PM).