Why is open source important to technology and the world?
Submitted by Joshua Hesketh on Wed, 28/11/2007 - 00:38.
This is a post in a series on the importance of open source. If you are not familiar with term "Open Source", I recommend you read this blog post first.
Why is open source so important? Why I am so passionate about open source? Why does Open Technology Solutions support open source?...
I have always had a strong passion for technology. When I was younger I would tinker with circuit boards, build basic robots and always be fascinated by anything new and revolutionary. This passion naturally led me to computers and eventually to the wonders of what you can achieve with software.
We do so much with our computers. We manage businesses, talk to friends, find information, relax with multimedia, play games and much more. But imagine where technology would be if we didn't share one key thing. Knowledge. Imagine if the best scientists and brains in the world withheld their findings. Imagine if Newton, Einstein or Bohr didn't share their research. We would be living in a very dark and disadvantaged world indeed.
Collaboration is what allows us to live in such an advanced society. Without it we would be thousands of years behind in technology. We learn from each other. We gain wisdom from others mistakes and build upon their successes. Likewise, open source allows for this freedom, for freedom of knowledge, for multiple people to build upon software, for programmers and developers to share their wisdom and for the world to advance technologically.
This idealogical philosophy of open source also extends to open content. In the same sense, imagine where the world would be without the combined knowledge, research and discoveries of individuals. It is for this reason that I support wikipedia and their mission. I highly recommend you watch this video. The video (embedded below) was made to promote their donation system, but it is still a great example of how people around the world are working together to provide information to everybody and every culture. It is a beautiful example of how collaboration can create such a solid product.
A brilliant example of the importance of open collaboration is the 2004 United States presidential election controversy. In short, the computers basically failed to calculate electrical results accurately, resulting in a biased election. If these systems were open to public scrutiny, a lot of the issues could have been avoided. Another example of how important collaboration is in software, is how stable and fully featured Linux and Apache are. Without development, research and a collaborative effort from countless organisations, businesses and individuals, these products would not, or could not, lead the Internet server industry as it does today for the above reasons.
So there are many reasons for utilising open source (see my other blog posts), but not only is it great to individuals, businesses and organisations, but it advances technology and the world!
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