Open Source != Communism

Open Source is a wonderful concept, and has been implemented beautifully.We are seeing a revolution, which has been validated by the big guns of business like IBM.

What does open source mean? For a detailed explanation, go to the Free Software Foundation site.

In a nutshell, it means that you have the source code of the program which you plan to use. You have the freedom to change whatever you want in the program (by changing the code!) , and if you want to redistribute the program, you must also give out the source code to the program.

One of the common misconceptions about Open Source is the you give away your software for free.

One important note is Open Source Software is “Free as in freedom” and not “free as in beer”,though, most Open Source software is free.You can sell whatever you code. The only condition is you must make the source code available at the same price or less.(imagine..double the money!). This is according to GPL, and there are other licenses with variations (berkeley has one).

Now that we have our fundas clear,the scenario is:
Programmers from all over the world come together, code a beautiful application, try to eliminate all the bugs and then, give it away for free. People (loads of them) + unpaid for the work they do. Ah…this sounds similiar…aaaaaaaaaaw…reminds me of something..Communism!

Well, this was what struck me when i looked at this scenario superficially.
Now, let me remind you the basics of communism, an evil which still exists in the world today. Communism says, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.”

So, in this context, this applied would be:

You need free bug-free software, and you don’t have the ability to write it. So, you force some one capable enough of writing the software, and then don’t pay him.The programmer doesn’t have the choice of accepting your proposal or not, he has to code the application you need. He has to code it for you, whether he likes it or not.

And this is what happens in Open-Source:

You make a proposal. If someguy likes it, he picks up and develops it, because he has some selfish interest in accepting your proposal.When he loses interest,he puts it up on the internet for someone to pickup. If someone else likes it, he picks it up and codes it, till it becomes a big application. Given that millions of programmers from all around the world look at this, chances are good that someone likes the idea and codes it.

That’s about it. It all boils down to choice. In communism, you don’t have a choice. Open source, it’s all about the choice