Is Open Source a mistake?

Once upon a time, the Free Software movement was about hacking. Blissful, unrestrained coding, about “what’s right”, not “what’s the profit in it”. Where have we gone?

Once upon a time, we just wanted to be left alone to hack. Hardware documentation would be nice, not having to reimplement existing technologies would be great, but just not being disturbed by the Proprietary software drunken giant.

Now where are we? MS targets the community unjustly, and tries to assail our God-given rights to program good software. Business exects talk of Open Source like it’s just another business tool, execs upbraid us to stop fighting among ourselves or we’ll scare the IT managers, and ignorant bloggers complain about the cournucopia of distributions, afraid we’ll overwelm the poor IT managers and, somehow, not achieve “success” for Open Source.

Free software isn’t about taking over the desktop, or the server market, or anything, really. We shouldn’t by interested in how many folk are using our software, but only that everyone who wants to can get a copy, and join the community. We’re the ultimate in accessibility: those who desire to must be able to access the software, according to his ability. Those who don’t should be free to refuse.

I’m sick of it all. I’m sick of execs swaggering about like they own the community, I’m sick of bloggers blogging on subjects they know nothing about, I’m sick of pointless patent scares and legal infighting. Aren’t we supposed to be working towards the day when coders won’t have to worry about legal threats? Where a fellow can code without consulting his attorney?

The hackers we revere, what would they have done? Greenblatt or Gosper in their prime would likely have compiled ZFS into the Linux kernel by now, not telling anybody. They would’ve created things better and more beautiful than we can imagine, we who blong and fight and strive to destroy Microsoft, at our own detriment.

It’s too late now; the battle-cry is up, the execs are hungering for more, the bloggers are raving with their usual mix of silver-tounged prophecy and sheer nonsense and FUD. For God’s sake, let’s just code for once. Let’s innovate, let’s try new things, let’s seek a newer world, forgetting about Open Source and the ungrateful Enterprises and the baneful trolls. Let’s see what we can do, and let the rest of the world go to Hell, if it will. If they don’t want us, why should we stick our necks out for them? Why should we make ourselves hated, just to force our work on the ignorant world?