The Book of Ashes

Just to clarify... 9:27PM

My discussion the other day is not meant to be from the opinion of any side. Bonnie called me quite the communist and perhaps that is how it comes across a little but I do not intend to play that part and if we had a communist goverment then I would be writing up more things wrong with that. Instead I write to play the antagonist. It is not to point fingers or blame individuals. If given a capitalist environment then why not build up as many posessions as you can? It is not the individuals fault, it is the system's. Now although the system has many faults it also has no better alternative (at least that I have heard of or can think of), yet I can't help thinking that its not the best or most efficient solution. So I write up these thoughts, not to criticise but to encourage others to think of better alternatives, to think outside the square.

Now there was mention of humanities bad side, of greed, envoy, hate, etc. This is exactly why capitalism works. Each person struggles for their own goals and as a side effect technology and progress pops out the side. It is also why communism and other alternatives don't work. Those that "know" they're better than others will struggle to get ahead of others NO MATTER WHAT. I have met people like this, who would reduce benefits and the dole (or remove them entirely) if it meant less tax and more money in their pockets.

But I digress. One interesting alternative that has been developing quietly in the wings is the open source movement. Being into development and having created my own programs (with the intent to sell and make money) I have a good insight into this. There was a time, not so far back where small applications made people rich. Someone invented an HTML editor called HotDog (which I could now write in a short time). They made a lot of money from it. Now a million other programmers saw this and similar programs and started writing there own. The first in made lots, the MP3 players, CD rippers, DVD players, etc, etc. But there was too much supply. There became 10 different DVD players to choose from. Prices came down to attract users, $99, $49, $19. Those that couldn't sell their software found that they had created something for nothing. So why not give it away. For every $50 application on the web there are now 10 other free ones (usually crapier but still free). Then a strange thing happened (and had been happening quietly before that), people started writing software for the sole purpose of giving it away free. Not ony that but they also gave away the source code so that others could improve upon it. This had some benefits, lots of people working on it for free meant it got developed at an OK pace. Lots of people looking at it and testing meant that lots of bugs were reported (and ironed out). Lots of input meant that better ideals were created (like Firefox rather than IE).

We are now at a point where you can download most kinds of software for free (at least basic packages), from operating systems to browsers to almost anything you can think of. Not only is it free but a lot of it is actually really good, e.g. Firefox was better than IE 6 (IE 7 has just copied and caught up with Firefox).

We have a system in place that encourages people to work for free.

We have a system in place where people contribute at a fast rate to humanities knowledge.

Look at Wikipedia. It now has massive amounts of data. Its all entered on a voluntry basis by regular people. And its actually quite good. Most of the time only those who really care or know about things can be bothered putting them up. It is progress that wouldn't happen under capitalism (although it is under capitalism but you know what I mean). In this small way it is better than doing something to make money, to get the most gain for yourself. And it is not the only way. There are other things like this that will evolve. The online communities and sharing of information will breed new ideas. Ideas not made to make money or gain. Ideas that progress with contributions from the many rather than the few.

Look at Google. It uses another model. Here is an awesome free search, here is a wicked free maps service, here is a cool gmail system. Its all free. Its all good. We give our employees 20% free time to develop their own ideas. We are racing ahead of other companies.

Ok so when you look into them, everything is still for money, just another layer removed, but still it is not an aberation, it is instead a step on the way to the next "thing".

My question to you is...

What is the next thing?

Where are all these ideas leading? What will come next. The interesting thing with the Open Source movement is its similaries to religion. If you hang out with enough developers you'll find an almost fanatical dedication to Open Source and its benefits, sometimes over the useability or compatibility of the software. People dedicate their time to working on these projects for their own satisfaction, for the credit they get on the web site and for their belief in the ideal. Religion is a powerful motivator, just as powerful as greed. It provides another way (not that I am advocating that you take up a religion).

Anyway, time to work on some more of that free software...