Watchout the penguins are coming: promises and perils in open source engineering

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Watch-out the penguins are comingpromises and
perils in open source engineering
Shay David

• Bovay Lecture Series
• Cornell, November 9th 2005
  

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ObservationOpen Systems are mushrooming
everywhere
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Thesis1. its not surprising2. its a good
thing 3. there are pitfalls (that can be
avoided)
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Beyond the motivation question towards a new
theory of open systems
Steven Weber any non-economic explanation of
open-source will be both boring and wrong
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case studies
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Linux

• software is like sex,its better when its
  free

Linus Torvalds
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is it better beyond the hype?
Yes, but why depends on who you ask
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the social worlds of o.s.
f/oss
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the social worlds of o.s.
free software open source
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the social worlds of o.s.
free software open source
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the social worlds of o.s.
free software
open source
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the social worlds of o.s.
free software
open source
traditional software dev.
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the social worlds of o.s.
free software
real world
open source
traditional software dev.
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money in o.s.

• a means of exchange
• a mode of payment
• a standard of value
• a means for the storage of wealth

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• Golden Rice
• The 3D philosophy
• Democratize, Decentralize and Diversify
• Design, Develop, and Disseminate

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The promise of open systems along three vectors

• Economic logic
• Diverse motivations accommodated
• Better competition
• Balanced IPR
• Modes of social cohesion
• Minority needs can be addressed
• Non-nationalistic (with a twist)
• Models of technological innovation
• Participatory design
• Transparency and no black-boxing (e.g voting,
  EMR)
• User vs. Producer innovation

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Charting Openness
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The perils of openness

• Accountability and liability (e.g. plagiarism on
  Amazon, law-suits)
• Dissenting views can be endangered
• Solutions might gravitate towards the lowest
  common denominator
• Openness can yield Socio-technical fragmentation
• Privacy
• National Security?

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its not my fault

• Perry Hoberman, "Accept," (2003)

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conceptual foundations of accountability
accountability
responsibility, fault, guilt
individuality, personhood
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Erasing dissenting views

• Consensus leaves little place for dissent (e.g.
  wikipedia entry on abortion)
• Clan-like, pre-industrial organization of labor
  (e.g. Colonel, lieutenants)

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Lowest common denominator

• Consensus gravitates downwards? (abstain has no
  constituency)
• People may lose motivation otherwise
• What we can agree on might turn out to be not
  that much

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Socio-technical Fragmentation

• Each person reads their own paper
• Forking
• How are standards negotiated? (why do I use
  excel?)

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Privacy / National Security

• The hacker toolkit
• You dont build an H-bomb in the basement (but
  what about Anthrax)
• Homebrewed GMOs?

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q a
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For more information
Shay David ( sd256_at_cornell.edu
) http//www.shaydavid.info