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IP: open source interests
From: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
Date: Wed, 08 Apr 1998 20:53:15 -0400
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1998 23:49:30 -0700 From: Judi Clark <judic () manymedia com> Subject: open source interests : : Yesterday, O'Reilly (publishers) convened a meeting that I thought might be of interest to this group. The attendees at the meeting included a few names we may have never heard of yet whose work we depend on each day: Sameer Parakh, C2/Stronghold software Paul Vixie, BIND Brian Behlendorf, Apache Eric Allman & Greg Olson, Sendmail Tom Paquin & Jamie Zawinski, Netscape Linus Torvalds, Linux Tim O'Reilly Larry Wall, perl John Ousterhaut, Tcl/Tk Guido van Rossum, Python John Gilmore (various) Eric Raymond, "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" (excellent article) Phil Zimmermann, PGP and several others I've been hoping to see an effort of this kind for some time now, and was happy to attend the press event following the meeting. The main things covered at the meeting were establishing some terminology ("open source means source code open to the public"), and starting to look at methodology for any kind of collaborations that might emerge. One point that came out clearly was the need for the public to see and understand the significance of this model of software development, and its prevalence in our lives. No big PR departments to alert the press when new developments come along. Yes, it was clear that much of the press was largely lost in this new world. Was it Open Source vs. Microsoft? How was Open Source ever going to make it in a shrinkwrapped world? And how will the press know what's coming next? Little did they know that shrinkwrap is, we were told, but a small percent of the overall software- related business world. And how would anyone make a living in this Open Source world? (As if distribution and customer support were not the major expenses? Driving down the cost of distribution still leaves a whale of an opportunity, as Cygnus and C2 demonstrate!) The main points to be shared are the following: 1. Open source runs a lot of stuff now. 2. Open source software development spawns new businesses and models 3. There is a social impact yet to be discovered 4. Open source demonstrates new ideas through mass usage 5. protects freedom of choice, keeps the market honest The work is beginning to increase awareness and mindshare. Just as some of us are coders and testers... I'm sure you will see more info about this meeting soon on O'Reilly's web site. The press release (with links) is found at: http://www.oreilly.com/oreilly/press/freeware.html You might also be interested in the "grim scenario" at the beginning of this article: http://www.netaction.org/articles/freesoft.html judi
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- IP: open source interests Dave Farber (Apr 08)