Barriers to OSPD: Difference between revisions
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The potential outcome of open development is great. It is assumed that open source product development affords the only sustainable way to do software (see [[Awesome Economics of Open Source]]), and by extension, the same should apply to hardware. For the hardware case, sustainability must include environmental soundness and social justice - paving the way for regenerative development. | The potential outcome of open development is great. It is assumed that open source product development affords the only sustainable way to do software (see [[Awesome Economics of Open Source]]), and by extension, the same should apply to hardware. For the hardware case, sustainability must include environmental soundness and social justice - paving the way for regenerative development. | ||
=Barriers= | =Barriers to OSPD= | ||
*'''Historical evolution''' - software started open source in the 1970s, went proprietary, and now is open source again. Hardware has started closed source 200 years ago, and remains proprietary. There is a significant cultural barrier to transitioning from a proprietary mindset, though in principle, this should be possible within one generation. Given that most of global institutions support proprietary development, the only way that we can eradicate the proprietary mindset disease is by - concurrently - changing many of the world's institutions. This would be a full time job for a large number of people, and this is precisely within the purview of Open Source Ecology's work: mass creation of right livelihood towards movement entrepreneurship to address all the world's institutional mis-design. | *'''Historical evolution''' - software started open source in the 1970s, went proprietary, and now is open source again. Hardware has started closed source 200 years ago, and remains proprietary. There is a significant cultural barrier to transitioning from a proprietary mindset, though in principle, this should be possible within one generation. Given that most of global institutions support proprietary development, the only way that we can eradicate the proprietary mindset disease is by - concurrently - changing many of the world's institutions. This would be a full time job for a large number of people, and this is precisely within the purview of Open Source Ecology's work: mass creation of right livelihood towards movement entrepreneurship to address all the world's institutional mis-design. | ||
*'''Clarity on the Status Quo''' - rationally, what works and what doesn't? There may be many opinions on what institutions of society work well and which are broken, and cutting through the noise to arrive at a general consensus may be difficult. | *'''Clarity on the Status Quo''' - rationally, what works and what doesn't? There may be many opinions on what institutions of society work well and which are broken, and cutting through the noise to arrive at a general consensus may be difficult. | ||
*'''Survival''' - surviving is a central issue that cause people both in the developing world and the 'advanced' world a lot of trouble. Most people scramble to make a living, and only a small percentage of people have enough liberty in their lives to pursue self-determination. Most people are on the treadmill, keeping up with the Joneses, 80% dislike their work - but people are forced to work otherwise they would not have the resources to keep food on the table and a roof over their head. This applies to both rich and poor people. In practice, that means that very few people have the liberty or attention span to contribute to public economic development, and this role is relegated to governments, which are not particularly efficient. See [[Efficiency of Government]]. | *'''Survival''' - surviving is a central issue that cause people both in the developing world and the 'advanced' world a lot of trouble. Most people scramble to make a living, and only a small percentage of people have enough liberty in their lives to pursue self-determination. Most people are on the treadmill, keeping up with the Joneses, 80% dislike their work - but people are forced to work or otherwise they would not have the resources to keep food on the table and a roof over their head. Naturally a question should be asked, ''What would the world be like if people did what they wanted to do in their lives - not what they were forced to by necessity?''This applies to both rich and poor people. In practice, that means that very few people have the liberty or attention span to contribute to public economic development (open source economic development, and this role is relegated to governments, which are not particularly efficient. See [[Efficiency of Government]]. | ||
*'''Lack of Vision''' - many people call this greed. Perhaps a more accurate description is lack of 'enlightened self-interest'. Enlightened self-interest culminates in care not only for oneself, but also the utmost care that nobody is left behind - as we are not free until everyone is free. Recent science supports that 'everything is connected' - and thus even the purely rational perspective indicates that we should care for others. So when a person is self-centered, greedy, or has no interest in public-interest development - that is simply a lack of clarity regarding one's place in the universe. For this reason - it is useful to refer to lack of vision, not greed. For vision can be expanded by education - whereas one cannot point to a clear solution for greed. As such - it is useful to frame this type of barrier as 'lack of vision' - as a solution is actionable. | |||
*'''Collaborative Literacy''' - Collaborative literacy is a profound understanding that cooperation yields improved results over pure competition. It is in our interest to cooperate for the sake of ethics - not when it is convenient to cooperate on some parts, leaving all else to war. Collaboration and cooperation are an expanded state of mind which draws boundaries outside of oneself or outside of one's immediate group. Because we are all in it together. Collaborative literacy also refers to the tools for cooperation. A conviction to cooperate has limited effect if one does not know how to use the tools for such cooperation. In the internet age - those tools are abundant - so a true collaborator needs to step in and pick up certain technical skills that enable seamless collaboration. These tools include online collaborative platforms such as wikis or open source versions of Google Presentations, online conferencing software, FreeCAD and other open source productivity software. These tools also include organizational tools: running incentive challenge prizes such as [[HeroX]]; starting communities with forums, blogs, and wikis; and many others. For open source product development, one must be familiar with a product development process and release cycles. One must have a general understanding of the steps in a product development process, and how these steps can be effected using open source platforms. | |||
*'''Crowd Development Literacy''' - this is a big one in terms of workflow design in open source product development. Crowd development literacy refers to the principles where masses - as opposed to rare superheroes - are leveraged to produce results more significant that any [[Two Pizza Rule]] teams. | |||
Revision as of 15:06, 14 March 2019
Barriers to Open Source Product Development
Currently, open source development is mainstream in the world of software. Open source product development in hardware is currently either unheard of, or insignificant, in that only about 1 millionth of the hardware goods economy is based on open source design.
Potential
The potential outcome of open development is great. It is assumed that open source product development affords the only sustainable way to do software (see Awesome Economics of Open Source), and by extension, the same should apply to hardware. For the hardware case, sustainability must include environmental soundness and social justice - paving the way for regenerative development.
Barriers to OSPD
- Historical evolution - software started open source in the 1970s, went proprietary, and now is open source again. Hardware has started closed source 200 years ago, and remains proprietary. There is a significant cultural barrier to transitioning from a proprietary mindset, though in principle, this should be possible within one generation. Given that most of global institutions support proprietary development, the only way that we can eradicate the proprietary mindset disease is by - concurrently - changing many of the world's institutions. This would be a full time job for a large number of people, and this is precisely within the purview of Open Source Ecology's work: mass creation of right livelihood towards movement entrepreneurship to address all the world's institutional mis-design.
- Clarity on the Status Quo - rationally, what works and what doesn't? There may be many opinions on what institutions of society work well and which are broken, and cutting through the noise to arrive at a general consensus may be difficult.
- Survival - surviving is a central issue that cause people both in the developing world and the 'advanced' world a lot of trouble. Most people scramble to make a living, and only a small percentage of people have enough liberty in their lives to pursue self-determination. Most people are on the treadmill, keeping up with the Joneses, 80% dislike their work - but people are forced to work or otherwise they would not have the resources to keep food on the table and a roof over their head. Naturally a question should be asked, What would the world be like if people did what they wanted to do in their lives - not what they were forced to by necessity?This applies to both rich and poor people. In practice, that means that very few people have the liberty or attention span to contribute to public economic development (open source economic development, and this role is relegated to governments, which are not particularly efficient. See Efficiency of Government.
- Lack of Vision - many people call this greed. Perhaps a more accurate description is lack of 'enlightened self-interest'. Enlightened self-interest culminates in care not only for oneself, but also the utmost care that nobody is left behind - as we are not free until everyone is free. Recent science supports that 'everything is connected' - and thus even the purely rational perspective indicates that we should care for others. So when a person is self-centered, greedy, or has no interest in public-interest development - that is simply a lack of clarity regarding one's place in the universe. For this reason - it is useful to refer to lack of vision, not greed. For vision can be expanded by education - whereas one cannot point to a clear solution for greed. As such - it is useful to frame this type of barrier as 'lack of vision' - as a solution is actionable.
- Collaborative Literacy - Collaborative literacy is a profound understanding that cooperation yields improved results over pure competition. It is in our interest to cooperate for the sake of ethics - not when it is convenient to cooperate on some parts, leaving all else to war. Collaboration and cooperation are an expanded state of mind which draws boundaries outside of oneself or outside of one's immediate group. Because we are all in it together. Collaborative literacy also refers to the tools for cooperation. A conviction to cooperate has limited effect if one does not know how to use the tools for such cooperation. In the internet age - those tools are abundant - so a true collaborator needs to step in and pick up certain technical skills that enable seamless collaboration. These tools include online collaborative platforms such as wikis or open source versions of Google Presentations, online conferencing software, FreeCAD and other open source productivity software. These tools also include organizational tools: running incentive challenge prizes such as HeroX; starting communities with forums, blogs, and wikis; and many others. For open source product development, one must be familiar with a product development process and release cycles. One must have a general understanding of the steps in a product development process, and how these steps can be effected using open source platforms.
- Crowd Development Literacy - this is a big one in terms of workflow design in open source product development. Crowd development literacy refers to the principles where masses - as opposed to rare superheroes - are leveraged to produce results more significant that any Two Pizza Rule teams.