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Re: intellectual shortcuts
You're right. I took an intellectual shortcut on this one. The purpose wasn't to promote open source or to commit revisionist history. It was to give some credit where due, and not credit of the usual kind. Unfortunately, it does give credit of the usual kind, to the degree that it credits one group and not another. Software developers of all kinds deserve the credit. And not just of the "we put the dot in the dot-com" sort that Sun advertises. What matters is that the new world we make together gives equal and fair respect to What's Mine and What's Ours. This is hard stuff to sort out (and why I kind of miss your "Ask not..." line at the top of Scripting.com). What's Ours is the space that software and business patents (for example) infringe. The open source and free software guys deserve credit for going a long way toward helping shape and define that space -- and for starting conversations that might not otherwise have happened. Unfortunately, we have arguments right now that are framed in what Esther Dyson calls "I'm right, you're evil" terms. Or worse, "We're right, you're doomed" or "We're right, you're hopeless." I catch this kind of stuff myself from some (not all) of the open/free guys, just because I happen to like, say, Internet Explorer, GoLive, PhotoShop, PowerPoint and Manila. Also that I use Mac and Windows for stuff they do best, or stuff that just isn't done on other platforms. My using that stuff does nothing to contaminate what's ours, but it gets treated like it does, because it rewards the perceived enemies of free/open source software. By the way,I've also got feedback from people saying the Net's credits need to include BBN, the research departments of commercial hardware and software companies (including Sun), and (yes) patents. Anyway, I guess I have the beginnings of my next editorial here. Thanks!
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