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| <h2><font color="#cc6600" face="Courier New, Courier, mono" size="+2">Editor's Column</font></h2> |
| <p><a href="//lspintro.html">-Louis Suarez-Potts</a></p> |
| <p>1 February 2001</p> |
| <p><b>Open Source and Its Culture</b></p> |
| <P><b>About this column</b></P> |
| |
| <P>I’d like to clarify the purpose of the Editor’s Column. The articles |
| that comprise "Editor’s Column" do not seek to represent Sun’s |
| view, and I don’t know about OpenOffice.org’s views, as it’s |
| not clear that one can easily synthesize the disparate views of an open-source |
| community as such into something coherent enough to fit into a column. Rather, |
| the purpose of the column is to focus on issues that the community has found |
| interesting, as evidenced by discussions in the mailing lists, or might find |
| interesting, because they relate to Open Source, its communities, and important |
| spokespeople.</P> |
| <P>All this is to say that the articles I write under the rubric, "Editor’s |
| Column" are meant to be discussed. So, if you disagree with the ideas, |
| logic, or characterizations, please, feel free express your opinions. And, if |
| you feel that I am not addressing some pressing issue, don’t hesitate to |
| let me know. As I’ve stated before, I would be delighted to receive suggestions |
| about topics, interviews, what have you. In fact, this is a serious call for |
| ideas: Send in your suggestions either to the discuss list or to <a href="mailto:louis at collab.net">louis |
| at collab.net</a>. It would also be great if a community member were to submit |
| for consideration an article, interview, or piece that he or she felt others |
| in the community would find interesting. </P> |
| |
| |
| <b><P>Questions about Open Source</P></b> |
| <P>This article inaugurates a series of articles questioning the shape and force |
| of Open Source, as a culture of work and as an organizational system. I plan |
| on these articles being intermittent; the sequence will doubtless be interrupted |
| by more immediate news or controversy related to OpenOffice.org. </P> |
| <P>There are several questions that motivate this inquiry; they include:</P> |
| <UL> |
| <LI>How are (other) large open-source projects organized?</LI> |
| <LI>What are the issues at stake? (I.e., what is hoped to be accomplished by |
| open-sourcing the code?)</LI> |
| <LI>Under what license or licenses are these constituted?</LI> |
| <LI>What is the relation between the sponsoring corporation and the open-source |
| project?</LI> |
| <LI>Who are the developers, and what do they have to gain from the project?</LI> |
| <LI>And, finally–and most intangibly–what is the "culture" |
| of the project?</LI> |
| </UL> |
| <P>Clearly, this project is large in scope and will take some time to fully complete; |
| in fact, I’m sure I’ll have to revisit the Darwin project later on. |
| My plan so far is to examine not just Darwin, but also Mozilla.org, and other |
| large, open-source projects. Why large projects? Size is a criterion here simply |
| because I suspect a large open-source project differs importantly from smaller |
| projects, and not just in the logistics of arranging the release of enormous |
| blocks of code to an uncertainly defined community. The nature of the community, |
| its "culture," how it works together, and the manner in which it contributes |
| code also changes according to the size and scope of the project. </P> |
| <P>This project is evolving. If the community wants to contribute suggestions–such |
| as different questions to ask, or particular projects that should be examined–please |
| forward them to me, and I’ll see what I can do.</P> |
| |
| |
| <b><P>Darwin</P></b> |
| |
| <P>Apple Computer’s open-source Darwin was <a href="http://www.apple.com/pr/library/1999/mar/16opensource.html">announced</a> |
| on 16 March 1999, and, in the words of its statement to the press, Apple became |
| "the first mainstream operating system provider to release its source code |
| to the public and base its system software strategy on Open Source technologies." |
| Initially, the focus was on Mac OS X Server; it quickly included the consumer-oriented |
| Mac OS X, which is slated for release on 24 March 2001. </P> |
| <P>Darwin 1.2, the <a href="http://www.opensource.apple.com//projects/darwin/1.2/release.html">current |
| release</a>, is enormous. 135MB for a disk image of the binaries. Interested |
| developers can also download source code; the project allows modifications to |
| be <a href="http://www.opensource.apple.com//projects/darwin/1.2/projects.html">submitted</a> |
| through mailing lists and CVS (Concurrent Versions System), which is recommended |
| but not required.</P> |
| <P>Despite its size and ambition, however, Darwin <I>as</I> an open-source project |
| seems to be often ignored by other open-source groups. OpenOffice.org, for instance, |
| is usually compared to <a href="http://www.mozilla.org">Mozilla.org</a>, and |
| is touted as being the largest open-source project. Darwin is never (or very |
| seldom) mentioned–not by Sun press, nor by the media at large, when discussing |
| OpenOffice.org </P> |
| <P>This lack of mention probably has something to do with the common notion that |
| Apple exists in a universe of its own. But it also has to do, I think, with |
| the controversy surrounding Apple’s open source credentials. Shortly after |
| the announcement of the project’s inception, however, the license under |
| which Darwin project operated and which defined the project’s status <I>as</I> |
| "open source," became the focus of a debate between Open Source luminaries |
| <a href="http://www.tuxedo.org/%7Eesr">Eric Raymond</a>, of <a href="http://www.opensource.org">OpenSource.org,</a> |
| <a href="http://www.perens.com/Bio.html">Bruce Perens</a>,who gave us "Open |
| Source," and <a href="http://www.stallman.org/">Richard Stallman,</a> who |
| can be said to have started <a href="http://www.gnu.org/gnu/thegnuproject.html">Open |
| Source</a> (or, as he prefers, "Free Software").</P> |
| <P>To summarize the history, Eric Raymond gave, if not his blessing, his <a href="http://www.opensource.org/products.html">certification</a>, |
| to the Apple Public Source License under which Darwin was constituted (APSL |
| Ver. 1 and shortly later, <a href="http://cgi.cs.rpi.edu/%7Egerbal/fom-serve/cache/11.html">1.1</a>; |
| it is now at <a href="http://www.opensource.apple.com//apsl/">Ver. 1.2</a>). |
| Raymond was publicly criticized for his actions by his colleague Bruce Perens, |
| who along with <a href="http://www.wi.leidenuniv.nl/%7Ewichert/">Wichert Akkerman</a>, |
| <a href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a> Project Leader, and <a href="http://195.224.76.132/%7Eijackson/ijackson.html">Ian |
| Jackson</a>, President,<a href="http://www.spi-inc.org/"> Software in the Public |
| Interest</a>, <a href="http://www.perens.com/APSL.html">argued</a> that the |
| APSL Ver. 1 failed to meet the necessary criteria for Open Source (Version 1.1, |
| issued 19 April 1999, <a href="http://www.perens.com/APSL.html">mostly satisfied</a> |
| the authors). Richard Stallman was unpersuaded by the changes Apple made to |
| its license and <a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/apsl.htm">condemned</a> |
| it as roundly as he had the first version (Ver. 1.1 fell "short of being |
| a free software license"). The debate got a little <a href="http://www.perens.com/perens_com/Articles/EricsJob.html"> |
| savage</a>, but that is because the issue at stake was so important to Open |
| Source. </P> |
| <P>The issue had to do with the relation between corporate interests and Open |
| Source. As Perens rather despondently concludes in his <a href="http://www.perens.com/perens_com/Articles/EricsJob.html">rebuttal</a> |
| to Raymond, "The needs of corporations are not necessarily those of the |
| free software community, and it may even be the case that the twain will never |
| meet. Open Source appears to be splitting into something I'd call "Corporate |
| Source", semi-free programs with disclosed source but less than the full set |
| of rights we are used to, and true Free Software as represented by the <a href="http://www.opensource.org/licenses/">GPL, |
| LGPL, X/BSD</a>, and other licenses. Public discussion of this fact is essential. |
| We may eventually have to accept that it will never be possible for corporate |
| participation in the free software community to be as full as we would like. |
| Contributions like the MacOS X source may end up being useless to the free software |
| community as far as code reuse is concerned, but they may still be good documentation |
| on the underlying hardware, and will be useful, with some caution, to authors |
| of fully free software." </P> |
| <P>Perens wrote gloomier than warranted. Not only has OpenOffice.org evidenced |
| that a company can move large, proprietary, software using true Open Source |
| <a href="//license.html">licenses</a>, but Apple itself |
| has recently (4 January 2001) revised its <a href="http://www.opensource.apple.com//apsl/">license</a> |
| for Darwin. The short <a href="http://www.opensource.apple.com/,">blurb</a> |
| under the link for the new license states, "The Apple Public Source License |
| has been updated to make it easier for people to contribute to and use the software," |
| and after the most cursory glance, it seems to be so. Rather belatedly, Apple |
| has entered Open Source (even <a href="http://slashdot.org/articles/01/01/05/0111218.shtml">Slashdot</a> |
| seems to agree). </P> |
| <P>What is left hanging, however, is the question of the culture of Darwin. Future |
| articles will examine this aspect of the project. I will also begin a look at |
| Mozilla.org.</P> |
| <P> </P> |
| <h4>Previous columns</h4> |
| <p>23 January 2001 <i><a href="communityaction.html">Community |
| Action</a></i></p> |
| <p>16 January 2001 <i><a href="ec16Jan01.html">Quo Vadis |
| OpenOffice.org?</a></i></p> |
| <p>9 January 2001 <i><a href="thebuild.html">The 613 |
| build: problems and opportunities</a></i></p> |
| <p>3 January 2001 <i><a href="SunsOpenDoor.html">Sun's |
| open door</a></i></p> |
| <p> </p> |
| <p> |
| <p>E-mail:<a href="mailto:louis at collab.net"> Louis at collab.net</a></p> |
| <P> </P> |
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