by Posted September 28, 2001 01:01 PM Pacific Time
I would like to address an issue that has been a concern of mine for
some time now. There has been some buzz in the past several months
alleging that open-source software -- and the GNU GPL (General Public
License) in particular -- is somehow "un-American."
Why?
It would seem that some people feel the heart of America rests in the
ability to make monetary profit from the labor of others. What utter
nonsense.
I would like to draw your attention to the events following Sept. 11,
especially in the lower part of Manhattan. Live television coverage
chronicled the bravery of men and women who marched headlong into the
disaster area to aid the trapped and the dying. Many were firefighters,
police officers, and emergency personnel. Others were simply normal
folks who happened to be present when the world seemed to break apart in
front of them. Regardless of who they were, many of these fine people
would perish for being selfless.
It was not long before the news media began to remind us that
selflessness and courage were among the highest ideals of our nation. It
may not make
headlines on most normal days, but the willingness to do the right thing
when a need arises -- even at great cost to oneself -- has always been
one of the greatest American virtues.
How is it, then, that open-source software is un-American? Someone who
works hard at creating a useful piece of code and then selflessly elects
to make it freely available to all is hardly engaged in an un-American
act. Even if that person happens not to be an American, he or she is
engaged in a practice that America has long respected.
Although it is true that writing open-source software is not on the same
level as running into a collapsing building to save lives, it is true
that electing to write open-source code is by no means a subversive
activity. It is, in fact, a little slice of selflessness -- something
that America applauds.
Russell Pavlicek is an independent open-source consultant and conference
speaker and author of Embracing Insanity: Open Source Software
Development, which demystifies the world of open source for