Doc Searls, co-author of the ClueTrain Maniphesto, gave a closing address called "What I'm Still Learning from Open Source" at the SD Forum open source gathering last week. Doc made a number of interesting observations which I will try to paraphrase.
- Open Source adoption typically happens when the engineers take over. Adoption decisions are rarely made at the top, it's done by the developers themselves. It's Do-it-yourself (DIY) IT. Its used when customers need to build solutions for themselves. They want to save money and get stuff done.
- There's a lot more open source usage going on than we know about (or will read about in the press.) Lawyers don't want to have their engineers talk about what they're doing with open source. Too many lawyers got spooked by SCO and their lawsuits. So the press continues to write the fluffy "sports stories" pitched by the big IT vendor marketing departments rather than the in-the-trenches reality from developers.
- Software is like the construction industry, which is the oldest profession and generates over $5 trillion dollars. We even share a common vocabulary: architects, design, developers, tools, platforms, structures, sites and "under construction." The construction industry likes commoditization. It enables modular solutions. Anyone can get started. There's no single platform or lock-in.
- Open source is typically reactive and adaptive. As a result the open source projects tend to be conservative, whearas companies tend to be proactive.
- If you want to use code and have others use it, the GPL is the best choice of license. (Though here, Doc admitted that he was biased about licensing.)
Doc also drew upon some research from the Burton Group discussing the interelation between open vs. closed systems and infrastructure vs. commercial solutions. Drawing from his interviews with Craig Burton of the Burton Group, Doc discussed the difference between open source and proprietary, suggesting that a more accurate continuum is open vs. closed and proprietary vs. public domain. The important point is that commoditization can drive a truck through scarce proprietary closed solutions to create a ubiquitous open and public infrastructure. That's what open source is all about.
And it's exactly why open source drives closed source proprietary companies crazy. They can't control it! And it eliminates the "scarcity tax" they use to charge their customers premium prices. How do you keep selling a $50,000 per CPU for proprietary enterprise software when you can download an open source solution for free?
That's a good question. I suspect it will drive a few closed source companies to try to "lock down" open source by buying up promising open source companies and then gradually turning them into closed source. It's like the old "embrace, extend & extinguish" tactic. But the reality is that the commoditization is going to happen anyways. Once the source code is out, it's hard to lock it up again. And maybe that's why Doc Searls and others are big proponents of the GPL.
Here are a couple of useful links to Doc Searls commentaries:
- IT Conversations: Doc Searls on DIY IT
- Searls.com: Making a New World (Open Sources 2.0)
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