Open Source

The concept

Open source is a new name for a relatively old concept in the computing world.  The basic idea is that software is far more useful, interesting and valuable if the source code is as available as any compiled version of that code.  The source code for a software package is whatever the creators actually manipulated when creating the package.  Providing source code as part of releasing a software package allows that software to continue living.  People other than the official authors can work on the system and improve it.  Another way to think about it is that a software package is designed to solve a particular problem.  The compiled version is just an answer to the problem.  The source code is the explanation.

Open Source also makes a fundamental fact of information more obvious.  Information is easily and infinitely duplicable.  This means that it follows fundamentally different rules than things of the physical world.  For example, solving the same problem multiple times is a waste of time - unlike harvesting food or making widgets.  The traditional retail software market tries to obey the familiar rules of barter in physical world.  This model of software development is failing.  Few companies have been able to succeed or make a significant, lasting contribution to the state of the art.  Those that have survived have typically done so not through superior software but through superior marketing.  The Open Source Movement is working to find ways to change that dynamic.
 

Personal Open Source Projects

This site is currently the host of two open source projects related to biological taxonomy:

Taxy

Name
 

Other Sites Related to Open Source

For more info on open source start with the Open Source web site.
My favorite place to track recent news related to the open source movement and related phenomenon is /. (pronounced Slash Dot).
 

Open Source Software Used to Create This Website

The Gimp - A powerful image creation and manipulation package.
GNU Emacs - The most powerful text editor yet created.
LinuxPPC - A versions of Linux that runs on Apple Macintosh computers.  Linux is a fully featured open source operating system that runs on just about anything including PC's and my own Macintosh PowerBook G3.
Netscape/Mozilla - The one true web browser.

Home | Contents

Last Modified: April 15, 2000