Difference between revisions of "Talk:Student Projects:OpenSource Motivation"
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This collaboration could be quite interesting, since I'm employed by one of those "commercial" software companies. I've done work here that's required me to reflect considerably on the nature of open source and the different marketplace it represents, but by necessity I'm not a participant in that marketplace. | This collaboration could be quite interesting, since I'm employed by one of those "commercial" software companies. I've done work here that's required me to reflect considerably on the nature of open source and the different marketplace it represents, but by necessity I'm not a participant in that marketplace. | ||
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| + | Kevin Watt: I don't think I've done anything quite so useful as contributing to Firefox, but before coming to Cal I was fairly active in contributing open-source software for modeling business situations, as well as generic code hacking and bug fixes for random software (ircd and irc bots, WYSIWYG html editors in their [very] early days, and most recently, a generic conversion program for Word files to PDF). I was also involved in some more infamous software design activities that I'll omit here, but I think there is an interesting open-source model that can be allied to those activities as well. Anyway, like Jesse, I am rather curious about what motivated me, as a junior high/high school student, to contribute time and code to open-source efforts. As an IT Policy course, I think the question of what inspires innovation is especially salient. | ||
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| + | Now, since we're a very geographically dispersed group, how do we envision collaboration for this policy brief? Do we want to restrict communication to the Wiki, or should we create some kind of mailing list? | ||
Revision as of 03:00, 29 October 2004
Jesse Ruderman: I often wonder what it is that motivates me to contribute to Firefox and create my own open-source software. Maybe I'll find out by joining this project.
Ian King: I'm interested in the subject matter, and I'm inclined to join if you'll have me. What's the overall approach? Or is that to be hashed out yet? It seems it could incorporate both new data - for which it would be necessary to formulate a good interview - and reviews of positions expressed in existing literature, e.g. Eric Raymond. I wonder if it would be interesting to examine the motivation behind licensing choices? That one paper we read for tonight (9/28) is an ode to the GPL, while BobGo's paper thrashes it soundly. Does Stallman's vision for the GPL really ring true today, are programmers simply defaulting to it, or has its viral nature given them no choice? Seems that's an element of the choice to go OSS.
This collaboration could be quite interesting, since I'm employed by one of those "commercial" software companies. I've done work here that's required me to reflect considerably on the nature of open source and the different marketplace it represents, but by necessity I'm not a participant in that marketplace.
Kevin Watt: I don't think I've done anything quite so useful as contributing to Firefox, but before coming to Cal I was fairly active in contributing open-source software for modeling business situations, as well as generic code hacking and bug fixes for random software (ircd and irc bots, WYSIWYG html editors in their [very] early days, and most recently, a generic conversion program for Word files to PDF). I was also involved in some more infamous software design activities that I'll omit here, but I think there is an interesting open-source model that can be allied to those activities as well. Anyway, like Jesse, I am rather curious about what motivated me, as a junior high/high school student, to contribute time and code to open-source efforts. As an IT Policy course, I think the question of what inspires innovation is especially salient.
Now, since we're a very geographically dispersed group, how do we envision collaboration for this policy brief? Do we want to restrict communication to the Wiki, or should we create some kind of mailing list?
