[SLUG] Reith Lectures 2007

[Martin Webb]

john at johnallsopp.co.uk wrote:
>> The character of Linux and its community is, for me too, a paradigm
>> for
>> other levels of organisation; and one of the reasons I was interested
>> in
>> Linux in the first place.
>>
>> Martin
> 
> I haven't seen it 'jump species' though. It seems to work for software
> development partly because those people are very familiar with the
> Internet which seems a core enabling technology for it, and perhaps
> software developers are happy with the rigid structures that also have
> to be there, checking software in and out and so on, and perhaps geeks
> like to be capable and knowledgable, so the reward for getting near
> the top of an open source project is a massive ego stroke.
> 
> Reading something like George Monbiot's Age of Consent I got a real
> buzz, I just wanted to make it all happen. But it's just one man's
> idea. Once you go beyond the safe confines of the book it turns out
> everyone else has their own opinion and there's no real desire to do
> Monbiot's, everyone wants to do their own thing. Normal people are
> much more analogue than open source programmers.
> 
> J
> 
> 

True, O King, but we may be getting closer to the day when there are 
only two options, whatever the multiplicity of opinions - do it or die.
Martin