I am preparing my presentation, titled, "Open Source â Science or Religion?" to the Holland Open Software Conference next week in Amsterdam. The abstract of the session is here:
Does the earth evolve around the Sun, or the Sun around the earth?
Centuries ago scientists and religious leaders were in disagreement regarding this.
This was a major destabilising view that put fear into church; was this
the end of their dominance? History has proven however, they didnât
have anything to worry about. But at the time, it was a major
issue.
If you listen to some, you could be fooled into
thinking this was the second coming of the software world, while others
prophesize the end of commercial software as we know it, putting the
fate of our industry into the hands of scruffy hackers who only work
late at night.The truth however is somewhere in between. It is true
that the software industry is going through somewhat of a Renaissance
in terms of what we view as the commercial asset (or chargeable)
component. Is Open Source the second coming? Or is there something more
sinister afoot?
This talk will look at the makeup of open source,
dissecting every piece to see just what we mean when we say âopen
sourceâ and just who is actually looking at the source code. Our new
cult is filled with many myths that are spreading in our circles and
these myths if not addressed could misdirect the real power and beauty
that open source has to offer. We will take a short history lesson
charting some of the great open source projects, analysing why they are
successful and will also look at some big failures of open source
projects to see why they failed to capture the imagination of the
populous. Is there a lesson to be learned here?
The future of open
source will be discussed and how, in our evolving eco-system, we can
see that our new cult has a role to fill and doesnât replace anything,
but merely adds to the mix. Contrary to popular belief, the Computer
Industry is not a trend setter, but a trend follower; other industries
have gone through this same transition and survived. The problems
facing companies today in our sector are problems that have had well
trodden paths to their solutions. By the end of the talk, you can then
decide for yourself, is open source a religion or has it matured to the
lofty status of a recognized science?
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I am preparing my presentation, titled, "