How the principles behind open source are changing our world
Two tech giants meet for their annual golf
competition. They each tee off, and corporate pride is on the line as they head
down the fairway to see which one has the advantage for their next shots. Ten
open source developers then step up to the tee. They each take their shot, then
race down to see which of the balls is best positioned for the drive down to
the green - because that spot is where they will ALL be playing their next shot
from.
A collaborative approach to problem-solving is fundamental to
how we innovate. While we may enjoy celebrating the lone geniuses in our
history, their initial sparks of inspiration have always been adapted and
improved upon to meet our need to develop agriculture, smelt iron, or build
supercomputers.
The digital-first world we live in today has been driven by
the free exchange of ideas, collaboration, and meritocracy. And these
principles have been so effective precisely because they mirror the way we have
solved problems for millennia, but it wasn’t until the dawn of the internet
that these principles were given a new name - open source.
Safety in numbers / A
virtuous cycle
Unlike in-house teams working
on lock-boxes of proprietary software, open source software can be inspected,
modified, and enhanced by anyone in the developer community. New features and
fixes are shared with the community for testing, peer-review, and comment. Some
ideas return to the drawing board, the best ideas rise to the top and are
incorporated into the source code. That modified source code is then returned
to the community, and the cycle continues.
When Linux was released in 1991 its license stated that anyone could have
access to the code - in its entirety - but any enhancements had to be freely
shared. The idea that developers can build on the work of others, and then -
crucially - release their innovations back into the community lies at the core
of open source.
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