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Open Source -- Can It Innovate?
- DarkShikari 18y agoIt seems that to some extent this article is a response to obvious trolls: anyone who seriously makes the generalized claim that open source cannot innovate is either a fool or a troll. Its quite easy to come up with cases where open source has innovated, and just as easy to come up with those where it hasn't. Of course, in our anecdote-happy blogosphere, people are often willing to use examples of the latter as proof of a ridiculously over-expansive generality. The real answer isn't that "open source innovates" or "closed source innovates": rather, people innovate.
- mixmax 18y agoInnovation has less to do with open or closed source and more to do with organizational structure and chain of command. Innovation comes from individuals - not from groups. If one person is in charge and has the power to drive his ideas through an organisation, whether that is an open source project or a company, he will be able to realise his innovative ideas. If consensus in an organisation is that decisions are made by committee innovation is less likely to happen. Committees have a tendency to boil away anything that is radical, new, or not proven. Apple is innovative because Steve Jobs is the supreme leader. Python is innovative because Guido van Rossum is benevolent dictator for life. Bittorrent is innovative because Bram Cohen had an idea, programmed it himself, and had no organisation to answer to. Linux is innovative because Linus Thorvalds is even better at divide and conquer strategies than he is at coding.
- cabalamat 18y agoYes. Next question?